Smollett prosecutors owe us an explanation
Lame excuses don’t justify dropping charges
Was “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett the victim of a hate crime attack by two men who hurled racial and homophobic slurs, shouted, “This is MAGA country,” and tied a noose around his neck?
Or did he collude with the alleged assailants — two brothers — to stage what appeared to be a horrific crime?
We might never know the answer, thanks to Chicago prosecutors. On Tuesday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office only added to the murkiness of this entire reality TV whodunit by reversing course and dropping all charges with the lame excuse — and no details — that Smollett had paid his time in community service and by forfeiting his $10,000 bond.
They didn’t even notify Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson ahead of time. “We found out when you all did,” Johnson told reporters.
Meanwhile, Mayor Rahm Emanuel voiced outrage at Smollett: “This is a person now who has been let off scotfree with no sense of accountability of the moral and ethical wrong of his actions.” “How dare him? How dare him?” The mayor continued. “Is there no decency in this man?”
I say, “How dare they?” in reference to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which said only this: “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the city of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”
That’s it. Did the prosecutors have a change of heart? Were they threatened? Did they learn new information that would have weakened their case?
Remember, it was only a few weeks ago that a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts of lying to authorities. Did Smollett’s celebrity play any kind of role? Or did the state’s attorney think it was politically unwise to move forward? Too many questions. No answers. Unacceptable.
But this is the question that matters: Did he or didn’t he?
The answer is surely important to the question of Smollett’s innocence or guilt, but the public also has a right to know because of the high-profile nature of this case and the nauseating turns it has taken. Even more so, this latest chapter goes to the heart of the notion of transparency in justice — not to mention how it impacts real victims of real hate crimes.
As a gay man who frequently writes about LGBTQ issues, the rising nationwide incidence of hate crimes is of tremendous concern. Any assailant who attacked Smollett in the manner he originally described should not only have been prosecuted — throw the book at him — but also a federal case should be made to deter other such crimes. And anyone who lies about such an attack must also be brought to justice and made to pay for his crimes — those would be staging a fake hate crime and filing false police reports about a crime.
In refusing to explain Tuesday’s decision, Cook County prosecutors did everyone involved in this confounding drama a disservice — including Smollett, who said, “I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since Day One.”
And he could be, but now we’ll never know.
“If you want to say you’re innocent of the situation, you take your day in court,” said Police Superintendent Johnson. “I would never hide behind a brokered deal in secrecy, period.”
Mayor Emanuel, however, spoke to the greater miscarriage of justice when he claimed that the actor used “hate crime laws that are on the books to protect people who are minorities from violence ... to advance your career and financial reward.”
Of that we can’t be sure, either — that is unless Cook Country prosecutors do an about-face and level with the mayor, the Chicago police and the public about why they dropped all charges and “believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”