Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had harsh words for the decision announced Tuesday (March 26) to drop all 16 charges of disorderly conduct against Empire actor Jussie Smollett in connection with allegations that he staged a fake hate crime attack on the city’s streets earlier this year. “This is a whitewash of justice,” a visibly angered Emanuel said on Tuesday at a press conference just hours after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office announced that it would drop the16 criminal counts brought by a grand jury just weeks ago.
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Emanuel addressed the news that Smollett’s team had taken what legal experts described as the unusual decision to forfeit the $10,000 bond the actor put up to secure his release after his arrest on Feb. 21, saying that it “doesn’t even come close” to the cost incurred by the city to investigate the case that led to the grand jury’s decision to charge Smollett.
Noting that he was in the House of Representatives when President Obama passed the Matthew Shepard Act in 2009 — which expanded the federal hate crimes statutes to include crimes motivated by a victim’s gender and sexual orientation — Emanuel lambasted Smollett, an openly gay black man, for what he saw as his abuse of the principles behind the legislation to “self-promote [his] career.” He said that the allegations made by Smollett that he was ambushed on Jan. 29 by two masked men who poured acid on him and put a rope around his neck while hurling racist and homophobic epithets comes at a cost to “all the individuals, gay men and women who will come forward and say they were a victim of a hate crime and who now will be doubted.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was equally blunt in his assessment of the decision. “Do I think justice was served? No,” he said, surrounded by fellow officers, adding that he thought the actor owed the city an apology. Johnson lashed out at what he said was the decision to “hide behind secrecy and broker a deal to circumvent the judicial system.”
Johnson said he stood behind his detectives’ investigation and the evidence they turned over to the State’s Attorney’s office. Emanuel wasn’t done, adding, “Where is the accountability from the system? You cannot have, because of a person’s position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everybody else,” he said, arguing that Smollett “used” hate crime legislation to his advantage to further his career. “In another way, you’re seeing this play out in universities where people pay extra to get their kids a special position in universities. Now you have a person because of their position and background treated in a way that nobody else would ever get close to this type of treatment.”
Emanuel lamented that the city’s reputation was “dragged through the mud” as a result of the worldwide coverage of the explosive allegations, adding that because of the judge’s decision, none of the other evidence gathered in the investigation will ever be made public. “It is wrong, full stop.”
“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,” the State’s Attorney’s office said in a brief statement on its decision. According to the Chicago Tribune, Area Central Detective Commander Edward Wodnicki, whose detectives led the investigation, said that prosecutors did not give Chicago PD any heads up that the charges were going to be dropped, expressing dismay that the decision made it look as if his officers mishandled the investigation, when in fact they uncovered what he called “overwhelming” evidence against Smollett.
Smollett’s attorney, Patricia Brown Holmes, stressed to reporters that the defense team did not reach a deal with prosecutors to expunge the case and that her client agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond so that he could “go on with his life and get this over with.” For reasons that have not been revealed, the judge in the case, Steven Watkins, ordered the public file sealed, according to the paper.
The New York Times reported that the prosecutor who made the decision, Joe Magats, said that there were no problems with the evidence or the police investigation, explaining that he dropped the charges after the actor agreed to community service and the forfeiture of the $10,000. He also pointed out that Smollett had no previous criminal record and that the dropping of the charges “didn’t exonerate him… we work to prioritize violent crime and the drivers of violent crime. I don’t see Jussie Smollett as a threat to public safety.”
A spokesperson for Smollett’s legal team said they had no response to Emanuel’s statement at press time and could not comment on whether the 36-year-old actor’s lawyers were considering filing any civil action against the city or police for their public statements and allegations. Smollett’s attorney said Tuesday’s decision to drop all 16 criminal disorderly conduct charges means his “record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him”; Smollett pleaded not guilty to the counts in court two weeks ago.
The investigation into the case appeared to reveal that Smollett enlisted the help of two other black men — one of whom worked on the show with him — to stage the attack because he was reportedly unhappy with his salary; Smollett has denied those allegations and maintained his innocence all along. The attorney for the two men questioned and then released as part of the investigation, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, said earlier this month that the men expressed “tremendous reget” for their part in the alleged scheme.
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Smollett gave a brief statement on Tuesday morning shortly after the news broke of the dismissal of the charges, saying, “I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of doing what I was accused of… I’d like nothing more than to just get back to work and move on with my life, but make no mistakes I will always continue to fight for the justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere.”
Shortly after Smollett addressed the dropped charges, the show’s studio and network, 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Entertainment, released a statement. “Jussie Smollett has always maintained his innocence and we are gratified that all charges against him have been dismissed.”