Jussie Smollet - Horrible Hate Crime or Horrible Case of TDS?

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Chicago prosecutors are fucking useless! They are sending a message that it's ok for black people to fake hate crimes.
At the same time, these prosecutors are going full bore against police officers who shoot thugs.

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I can't believe you guys are still crying about this.

Dindu Jussie Smollett should have been punished for the racist crime he committed. Or do you think racists faking hate crimes is only a problem when white people do it?

Wow, unhinged much? I'm not a hater.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Chicago prosecutors are fucking useless! They are sending a message that it's ok for black people to fake hate crimes.
At the same time, these prosecutors are going full bore against police officers who shoot thugs.

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I can't believe you guys are still crying about this.

Dindu Jussie Smollett should have been punished for the racist crime he committed. Or do you think racists faking hate crimes is only a problem when white people do it?

Wow, unhinged much?

Wow, rhetorical question much?

 

[Derec]

Wow, unhinged much? I'm not a hater.

Well, you are not a hater of black racists who make false hate crime accusations.
That doesn't mean you don't hate other people.

I stand by my assessment. Cook County state attorney's office is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Letting Dindu Jussie go is evidence of that.

 

[TSwizzle]

I would not be surprised if Empire hired him back, so I doubt his career will suffer much.

Fox may end up honoring his contract but I would be surprised if he appeared in the show again.

When the chief of police publicly stated that Smollett was guilty of faking this attack and all the press piled on, I thought it was going to backfire on them. How was Smollett going to get a fair trial after that ? I think that may have been part of the reason they dropped the charges.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I can't believe you guys are still crying about this.

The guy faked a hate crime as part of a publicity stunt to get paid more money for a television show. I don't want to go all Godwin... but I'm ready to make the Hitler comparison!

But seriously, what he did was messed up, wasted a lot of police time, and got a bunch of people riled up... all for personal gain. That isn't cool and I don't think someone should be able to walk completely free from this based on pre-existing community service. He took from the community, he should owe something back.

He probably deserves about the same as Ashley Todd:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Todd_mugging_hoax

Remember when Derec and dismal were calling Ashley Todd a dindu and all the hate they directed at her?

 

[Derec]

Remember when Derec and dismal were calling Ashley Todd a dindu and all the hate they directed at her?

I do not remember anybody on here defending her. Btw, Jussie's hate crime hoax was much more elaborate, given that he roped in (no pun intended) those two Nigerians into his plot. Therefore, his crime was much more premeditated. It was not just a hate crime hoax, it was also a conspiracy to commit a hate crime hoax.

But he has black privilege in a county where black privilege goes a long way.

 

[Derec]

When the chief of police publicly stated that Smollett was guilty of faking this attack and all the press piled on, I thought it was going to backfire on them. How was Smollett going to get a fair trial after that ? I think that may have been part of the reason they dropped the charges.

Police always say that suspects they have are guilty. That in itself does not mean a fair trial is impossible.

I still think it was black privilege. Remember, this is a county that prosecuted a police officer for first degree murder for shooting a guy who was menacing a neighborhood with a knife. And yet they will not prosecute an open and shut case of a faked racist hate crime.

 

[dismal]

I would not be surprised if Empire hired him back, so I doubt his career will suffer much.

Fox may end up honoring his contract but I would be surprised if he appeared in the show again.

When the chief of police publicly stated that Smollett was guilty of faking this attack and all the press piled on, I thought it was going to backfire on them. How was Smollett going to get a fair trial after that ? I think that may have been part of the reason they dropped the charges.

The last thing I think Smollett wanted is "a fair trial". And it's hard to have sympathy on him because his case got hyped up by the media. That's in the category of killing your parents and asking the judge for sympathy because you're an orphan.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Remember when Derec and dismal were calling Ashley Todd a dindu and all the hate they directed at her?

I do not remember anybody on here defending her. Btw, Jussie's hate crime hoax was much more elaborate, given that he roped in (no pun intended) those two Nigerians into his plot. Therefore, his crime was much more premeditated. It was not just a hate crime hoax, it was also a conspiracy to commit a hate crime hoax.

But he has black privilege in a county where black privilege goes a long way.

 

[TSwizzle]

When the chief of police publicly stated that Smollett was guilty of faking this attack and all the press piled on, I thought it was going to backfire on them. How was Smollett going to get a fair trial after that ? I think that may have been part of the reason they dropped the charges.

Police always say that suspects they have are guilty. That in itself does not mean a fair trial is impossible.

It does make it challenging when the chief of police goes on national TV and cries "guilty" from the pulpit. I really think this is what caused a problem for the prosecutors and played a part in dropping the charges. That and not much evidence either. Maybe more details will come out but the decision to drop all charges doesn't make much sense at the moment.

 

[TSwizzle]

The last thing I think Smollett wanted is "a fair trial".

Smollett didn't think any further in advance than he would get a huge pay rise and hero worshiped from his adoring fans etc. It's a strange case indeed.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

That's weird. Is the whole reasoning that it's just so obvious that he's guilty that there's nobody who'd consider him innocent? If so, that's a weird reason.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

The last thing I think Smollett wanted is "a fair trial".

Smollett didn't think any further in advance than he would get a huge pay rise and hero worshiped from his adoring fans etc. It's a strange case indeed.

Stranger yet. It was the prosecutors that abruptly dropped all charges, so unless the FBI is somehow trying to take over and make the fake anthrax letter the priority prosecution, there evidently was something new that came to light, since the only reason they would do that is if Smollett took a plea deal or otherwise plead guilty (which, so far at least, has not been revealed).

The idea that prosecutors just suddenly decided out of the goodness of their hearts that he'd been punished enough--as is implied in the following statement--is just ridiculous, so clearly something else has happened we don't know about:

“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 statement from spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.

Smollett paid $10,000 in bail to get out of jail after his arrest.

So, for committing 16 felonies, the prosecution is basically saying, "Eh, we'll take $10K and a few hours of community service," but only after alluding to something discovered as a result of a "review" of the facts and circumstances. Seems unlikely.

Unless there was some other pressure being put on the DA's office, but that would be an awfully risky political move either for a Dem or Repug.

ETA: Here's something from CNN:

Parts of the case will be sealed, one of Smollett's attorneys said.

 

[dismal]

When the chief of police publicly stated that Smollett was guilty of faking this attack and all the press piled on, I thought it was going to backfire on them. How was Smollett going to get a fair trial after that ? I think that may have been part of the reason they dropped the charges.

Police always say that suspects they have are guilty. That in itself does not mean a fair trial is impossible.

It does make it challenging when the chief of police goes on national TV and cries "guilty" from the pulpit. I really think this is what caused a problem for the prosecutors and played a part in dropping the charges. That and not much evidence either. Maybe more details will come out but the decision to drop all charges doesn't make much sense at the moment.

I have seen no mention of this in the articles. They don't seem to be offering much of a coherent explanation as to why they dropped the charges.

In particular, Smollett appears to actually be denying the charges, so no contrition.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the decision to dismiss the case. Typically, a minimum condition of dropping cases is some acceptance of responsibility. In a statement, the Cook County prosecutors’ office offered no detailed explanation.

“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 statement from spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.

https://www.apnews.com/1cb151c45b714a749ebadf8e50910a0d

 

[jladam]

It was the prosecutors that abruptly dropped all charges, so unless the FBI is somehow trying to take over and make the fake anthrax letter the priority prosecution, there evidently was something new that came to light, since the only reason they would do that is if Smollett took a plea deal or otherwise plead guilty (which, so far at least, has not been revealed).

The idea that prosecutors just suddenly decided that he'd been punished enough--as is implied in the following statement--is just ridiculous, so clearly something else has happened we don't know about:

“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 statement from spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.

Smollett paid $10,000 in bail to get out of jail after his arrest.

So, for committing 16 felonies, the prosecution is basically saying, "Eh, we'll take $10K and a few hours of community service out of the goodness of our hearts," but only after alluding to something discovered as a result of a "review" of the facts and circumstances. Seems unlikely.

Unless there was some other pressure being put on the DA's office, but that would be an awfully risky political move either for a Dem or Repug.

ETA: Here's something from CNN:

Parts of the case will be sealed, one of Smollett's attorneys said.

What you said. Prosecutors do not just out-of-the-blue drop a sixteen count criminal complaint and move to have the case sealed just because all of a sudden they feel sorry for the defendant. Prosecutors normally don't like having cases sealed. They like their good work to be available to the public. So when the prosecutors themselves move to seal a record, it usually means they don't want the public to know that their office or the police are the ones that actually fucked up. I'm not saying that Smollett is innocent. But it is a good indication that the prosecutor's office and/or the police may not be so innocent either in the handling of the case and they don't want the public to know about it. If you take a good look at the recent history of Cook County prosecutors and police, this would pretty much be par for the course.

 

[blastula]

COMPLETE AND TOTAL EXONERATION!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

What you said. Prosecutors do not just out-of-the-blue drop a sixteen count criminal complaint and move to have the case sealed just because all of a sudden they feel sorry for the defendant. Prosecutors normally don't like having cases sealed. They like their good work to be available to the public. So when the prosecutors themselves move to seal a record, it usually means they don't want the public to know that their office or the police are the ones that actually fucked up. I'm not saying that Smollett is innocent. But it is a good indication that the prosecutor's office and/or the police may not be so innocent either in the handling of the case and they don't want the public to know about it. If you take a good look at the recent history of Cook County prosecutors and police, this would pretty much be par for the course.

Well, he was a rich defendant. They probably do drop these cases sometimes for them.

 

[dismal]

What you said. Prosecutors do not just out-of-the-blue drop a sixteen count criminal complaint and move to have the case sealed just because all of a sudden they feel sorry for the defendant. Prosecutors normally don't like having cases sealed. They like their good work to be available to the public. So when the prosecutors themselves move to seal a record, it usually means they don't want the public to know that their office or the police are the ones that actually fucked up. I'm not saying that Smollett is innocent. But it is a good indication that the prosecutor's office and/or the police may not be so innocent either in the handling of the case and they don't want the public to know about it. If you take a good look at the recent history of Cook County prosecutors and police, this would pretty much be par for the course.

It's hard to imagine what they could have messed up. They knew it would be a highly publicized case from the first moment. I'd bet on this dismissal being political before that.

 

[Derec]

What you said. Prosecutors do not just out-of-the-blue drop a sixteen count criminal complaint and move to have the case sealed just because all of a sudden they feel sorry for the defendant. Prosecutors normally don't like having cases sealed. They like their good work to be available to the public. So when the prosecutors themselves move to seal a record, it usually means they don't want the public to know that their office or the police are the ones that actually fucked up. I'm not saying that Smollett is innocent. But it is a good indication that the prosecutor's office and/or the police may not be so innocent either in the handling of the case and they don't want the public to know about it. If you take a good look at the recent history of Cook County prosecutors and police, this would pretty much be par for the course.

Kim Foxx is a CPD hater. If she had any evidence CPD fucked up in this case, she would relish the opportunity to expose it.
I think she it is much more likely she did this as an FU to CPD. Or was possibly bribed by Smollett's team. Chicago is a rather corrupt place!

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COMPLETE AND TOTAL EXONERATION!

Hardly. Although this allows some to pretend that he was exonerated, even though everybody knows he is as guilty as OJ.

 

[jladam]

What you said. Prosecutors do not just out-of-the-blue drop a sixteen count criminal complaint and move to have the case sealed just because all of a sudden they feel sorry for the defendant. Prosecutors normally don't like having cases sealed. They like their good work to be available to the public. So when the prosecutors themselves move to seal a record, it usually means they don't want the public to know that their office or the police are the ones that actually fucked up. I'm not saying that Smollett is innocent. But it is a good indication that the prosecutor's office and/or the police may not be so innocent either in the handling of the case and they don't want the public to know about it. If you take a good look at the recent history of Cook County prosecutors and police, this would pretty much be par for the course.

Well, he was a rich defendant. They probably do drop these cases sometimes for them.

It was a high profile case, which they usually like. Yes, Smollett was rich, but he was by no means a sympathetic figure. Many of his supporters turned against him after he was charged. And Cook County prosecution and law enforcement's notorious history of covering up their own misdeeds is very well documented.