Who can you trust in the Jussie Smollett saga?
Kim Foxx, state’s attorney for Cook county, whose office abruptly dropped all charges against the Empire actor, who allegedly faked a hate crime against himself in Chicago in January? Smollett himself, who still maintains that the racist, homophobic attack really happened? Or maybe mayor Rahm Emanuel and police superintendent Eddie Johnson, who have expressed outrage over the “whitewash of justice” and are seeking $130,000 in investigation costs from the actor, but have faced heavy criticism for failing to hold Chicago police similarly accountable for their transgressions in the past?
Such is the dilemma here in Chicago, where just about the only thing everyone can agree on in the high-profile case is that the criminal justice system is broken.
For Emanuel and Johnson the decision was an example of the rich and famous receiving preferential treatment in the face of the law. “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,” the mayor said in a news conference.
But for many in Chicago and beyond, that outrage smacked of hypocrisy from a mayor who infamously sought to keep from the public eye a video of former officer Jason Van Dyke gunning down black teenager Laquan McDonald and who has been criticized for his record on police accountability issues.
“Is this the same mayor Rahm Emanuel whose police department ran up millions in taxpayer-funded settlements for brutality and wrongful death cases?” the Atlantic’s Vann R Newkirk II wrote .
It is a confusing, complex situation that touches on a range of issues, from privilege in the criminal justice system to the relationship between people of color and police, and one that reflects – and could exacerbate – a lack of faith in criminal justice institutions.
“We’re talking about wide-ranging impacts that erode public trust,” said Laura Beth Nielsen, a professor of sociology and director of the Center for Legal Studies at Northwestern University. “It’s doing more damage than just this one situation.”
The imbroglio began in January, when Smollett, who is black and gay, told Chicago police he’d been assaulted by two men who poured an “unknown chemical substance” on him, tied a noose around his neck, and shouted racial and homophobic slurs, as well as a reference to president Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
The incident drew international headlines and condemnation from celebrities and politicians, including Trump himself, who at the time called the reported attack “horrible.”
But in a stunning twist, Chicago police said in February that an investigation had concluded the Empire star had filed a false report and that he had paid two men to help him stage the attack in order to further his career. The 36-year-old actor was eventually indicted on 16 felony counts.
But Joseph Magats, the assistant state’s attorney, who took over the case after Foxx recused herself over apparent contacts she had with Smollett’s family at the request of a former aide to Michelle Obama, announced Tuesday that he would drop all the charges against Smollett in exchange for the forfeiture of his $10,000 bond and “volunteer service” the office said the actor had already performed in the community.
That didn’t sit well with Emanuel and Johnson, who said the decision was “not on the level”.
“Where’s the accountability in the system?” Emanuel asked in a heated presser after the surprise announcement.
Foxx defended her office’s move in an interview saying Smollett’s alleged crimes were the “lowest level” of felonies and unlikely to carry prison time, and that the prosecution reached “an outcome that we could expect with this type of case.”
But Robert Loeb, a former assistant state’s attorney in Cook county, said that the office’s handling of the case was unusual.
“It’s highly irregular,” Loeb said, noting that prosecutors and Smollett continue to differ on the actor’s innocence.
The state’s attorney’s office declined to comment for this story. Patricia Brown Holmes, an attorney representing Smollett who has said that the office dropped charges after “we were able to convince them the information was not what they thought it was”, did not respond to a question from the Guardian about the discrepancy between prosecutors and Smollett about his innocence. But her office pointed to a statement from the attorney criticizing Emanuel and Johnson for demanding the actor apologize to the police and the city.
“It is the mayor and the police chief who owe Jussie – owe him an apology – for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud,” Smollett’s team said Thursday. “Jussie has paid enough.”
But questions about the case are not going away.
In a statement, the National District Attorneys Association offered blistering criticism of Foxx’s office, suggesting the “public’s confidence in the criminal justice system” had been “diminished” by its handling of the Smollett charges. “The case in Chicago illustrates a point that must be discussed in an effort to ensure fairness in our criminal justice system: the rich are treated differently, the politically connected receive favorable treatment, and Lady Justice sometimes peeks under her blindfold to see who stands before her,” the NDAA said.
But for many Chicagoans – particularly black and brown residents – that was obvious before the Smollett case.
It was evident in the city’s handling of the McDonald killing, other police brutality cases in which activists say authorities were not held accountable, and in policies out of city hall that critics say have ignored or worsened problems in low-income areas, such as his highly controversial school closures. Some rebuked Emanuel and Johnson for failing to express the kind of outrage about those issues that they expressed about the handling of the Smollett charges. Some questioned authorities’ narrative that Smollett had faked the attack, suggesting that city officials and the media were attempting to “vilify” the actor.
“Rahm and Eddie are both flunkies for the 1% and I think they both have a lot of nerve criticizing Foxx for doing the kind of job she was elected to do,” Larry Redmond, a Chicago attorney and activist who has been critical of Emanuel and the CPD, said in an email. “She has the discretion to prosecute whomever she pleases. She chose not to prosecute a young black man the press was attempting to vilify. That took guts, and I stand by her for that decision.”
Of course, politics – both local and national – have figured heavily into the matter.
The Fraternal Order of Police – which had backed Anita Alvarez, the former state’s attorney who was criticized for her handling of the McDonald case, in her failed re-election bid against Foxx in 2016 – is calling for a federal investigation into her handling of the Smollett case, saying that her office’s work was “highly, highly suspicious”.
“The entire country is outraged by it,” Martin Preib, of the FOP, told the Chicago Sun-Times “This decision appears to be utterly arbitrary, capricious and suspicious.”
“The entire country is getting a window into the absurdity of the Chicago political and legal system,” he added.
Trump – whose rightwing allies in the media have latched onto the drama – signaled Thursday that he has taken up the cause, tweeting that the FBI and justice department are reviewing the case. “It is an embarrassment to our nation!” he wrote. Emanuel didn’t welcome the president’s help, urging him to “sit this out”, but demanded more than $130,000 from Smollett to cover the costs of CPD’s investigation and threatened to “prosecute … or pursue any other legal remedy available at law” if he doesn’t pay up within a week.
It’s unclear what will happen next, except that most involved in the case will likely continue to face backlash. Foxx, who had been seen by many as a reformer, will remain under scrutiny, including for text messages and emails she sent regarding the case that were obtained by the Tribune. Emanuel, who leaves office this year, will continue to be dogged by his record on McDonald. And Smollett, who may return to Empire, remains under federal investigation.
Meanwhile, Chicago and the rest of the country is still looking for answers. They won’t find them in the case’s court papers: they’ve been permanently sealed.