Actor Jussie Smollett Faces 6 New Charges in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) — Actor Jussie Smollett was indicted Tuesday for a second time on charges of lying to police about a racist and anti-gay attack he allegedly staged on himself last year in downtown Chicago.

The indictment came from a special prosecutor who was appointed after Cook County prosecutors dropped the same charges last March.

Special prosecutor Dan Webb said in a statement that Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct, charges that stem from four separate false reports that he gave to police in which he contended he was a victim of a hate crime "knowing that he was not the victim of a crime."

Smollett, who is Black and gay, was originally charged with disorderly conduct last February for allegedly staging the attack and lying about it to investigators. The allegations were dropped the following month with little explanation, angering police officials and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Tina Glandian, Smollett's attorney, did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

The 'attack'

Smollett told police he was walking home early on Jan. 29, 2019, when two masked men approached him, made racist and homophobic insults, beat him and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing. He said his assailants, at least one of whom he described as White, told him he was in "MAGA country" — a reference to President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

Several weeks later, authorities alleged that Smollett had paid two Black friends $3,500 to help him stage the attack because he was unhappy with his salary as an actor on "Empire" and wanted to drum up publicity for his career.

A judge in August appointed Webb, a former U.S. attorney, as a special prosecutor to look into why the original charges were dropped. Webb also was looking into whether calls that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx had with a Smollett relative and a former aide of former first lady Michelle Obama unduly influenced the decision to drop charges. Foxx recused herself from the case but continued to weigh in.

At the time, Judge Michael Toomin, who assigned the case to Webb, raised the possibility that Smollett could be charged again.

In his news release, Webb said he concluded that prosecuting Smollett was "in the interest of justice" for a number of reasons, including the extensive details of Smollett's false account as well as the resources that the police department threw at the investigation.

No double jeopardy

Attorneys and the judge noted that in Smollett's case, double jeopardy does not apply because he was never prosecuted.

The city has sued Smollett, seeking reimbursement of more than $130,000 for overtime paid to officers who were involved in investigating Smollett's report. Smollett's attorneys have said the city should not be allowed to recover costs from Smollett because it accepted $10,000 from the actor "as payment in full in connection with the dismissal of the charges against him."

Smollett's case has become an issue in Foxx's bid for a second term. Those looking to unseat the first Black woman to hold the county's highest law enforcement position, have blasted her handling of the matter as haphazard and indecisive. They say it indicates she has bad judgment and favors the rich and powerful in deciding who will be prosecuted.

Foxx's campaign committee issued a biting statement Tuesday referring to former FBI Director James Comey's decision to briefly reopen an investigation into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's email shortly before the presidential election in 2016 that Donald Trump would win.

"What's questionable here is the James Comey-like timing of that charging decision"…which can only be interpreted as the further politicization of the justice system, something voters in the era of Donald Trump should consider offensive," the statement from Friends for Foxx said.

Smollett has not had any notable film or television roles announced since his departure from the Fox series was announced in April 2019. Producers have the option to bring him back during the sixth and final season but have said they have no plans to do so.

"Empire" has 10 episodes left. It is scheduled to return on March 3.