Both Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson have sharply criticized the move, with Emmanuel calling it “an unbelievable whitewash of justice.”
“It’s immoral, unethical, [and] wrong,” Emmanuel said at a Tuesday press conference, adding that he believes the actor perpetrated a hoax, citing a grand jury’s indictment of Smollett as evidence. “How dare him. … Is there no decency in this man?”
Meanwhile First Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Joseph Magats, the lead prosector in the case, has defended his decision — though Magats did tell CBS Chicago that the decision did not absolve Smollett.
“I do not believe he is innocent,” Magats said.
Paul Beaty/AP/Shutterstock
Smollett has maintained his innocence throughout, saying in brief remarks to reporters at the Cook County courthouse Tuesday that he’s “been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one.”
“I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of doing what I was accused of,” Smollett said.
He had faced16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly fabricating details of an assaultthat occurred around 2 a.m. local time on January 29 on a street in his Chicago neighborhood.
Abel and Ola Osundairo.Instagram
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson later told reporters that two men — Nigerian brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who were acquaintances of Smollett —admitted their rolesbut said they were acting at Smollett’s direction, and police recovered a$3,500 check they portrayed as Smollett’s payment to the two men for the alleged hoax attack. Police said phone records revealed Smollett had spoken with the men an hour before the attack, an hour after the attack, and while they were out of the country as the investigation unfolded.
The brothers subsequently issued an apology through their lawyer for their involvement in the incident, though they did not specify what they did. Neither has been charged.
Smollett’s attorney, Patricia Brown Holmes, told reporters that Smollett’s $3,500 check to the brothers was to cover Smollett’s nutrition and training regimen. “They were his trainers,” she said.
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While charges that he staged his own hate crime have been dropped, Smollett has not been exonerated of the alleged conduct, nor does this mean there will be no further criminal charges brought against theEmpireactor
source: people.com
