Yesterday was the deadline which was “imposed” on Jussie Smollett to pay the city of Chicago. Shortly after the state’s attorney dropped all 16 charges against Smollett, Mayor Rahm Emanuel freaked out on-camera and then orchestrated a letter demanding that Jussie “pay back” the city for the cost of investigating a falsely reported crime. The issue is that Jussie was not found guilty of staging an assault or filing a false police report or any of that. He wasn’t found guilty, he did not take a plea deal and he never even made a verbal or written admission. A city can’t bill someone from a crime which has never been proven. So, yeah, Jussie didn’t pay the $130K.
Not backing down. Jussie Smollett does not intend to reimburse the city of Chicago for the expenses incurred during the investigation into his alleged attack, a source close to the actor reveals exclusively to Us Weekly. The Empire star, 36, has “no plans on paying investigative costs being outrageously demanded,” the insider tells Us. Instead, the source suggests that “the Chicago Police Department should be investigating the way this matter was mishandled from the beginning.”
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel ordered Smollett to pay more than $130,000 to the city by Thursday, April 4. The move came after prosecutors dropped all 16 charges against the singer.
So what happens now? Chicago is going to sue him now that the deadline has passed. A spokesperson for the city announced this:
“Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019, a spokesperson of the Midwestern metropolis said Thursday as it became EOD in Chicago. “The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Once it is filed, the Law Department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to Mr. Smollett’s L.A. based legal team.”
Again, he wasn’t convicted of anything, he didn’t take a plea and he never made an admission. I realize the City of Chicago believes they are their own little fiefdom of self-perpetuating corruption, brutality, violence and payouts, but surely they have no real legal leg to stand on? Perhaps the point isn’t really that they want to get money out of Jussie, it’s that they feel like they have to be seen doing something, so they’re going to waste more money trying to “punish” him somehow.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
The CPD has literally no legal leg to stand on. And they know it. This is just optics and inage. Which is what really pisses me off. The CPD using this case to make themselves look like the wronged party or the good guys. I mean if we are paying money back when do I get my check for my tax dollars spent on settlements to victims of police violence??
In other news about this case that makes me want to scream; police departments across Illinois are giving State’s Attorney Kim Foxx “no confidence” votes and demanding she resign. Over this case. Give me a f*ckibg break. All of these mofos need to LET IT GO.
In any other case where the prosecutor was texting with the defendant’s fixer, trying to help out the defendant by attempting to remove it to Federal Court as a favor, in any other city, that DA has crossed the line and should resign. When a DA files a case they complete forms that designate a venue–the venue the DA wants to try the case in –the DA doesn’t side with the venue choice of the defendant in the case…it’s ridiculous.
Except…that’s…not what happened. Lol.
I disagree. There was evidence to indict him, and now the public will never see it. It’s a miscarriage of justice. Two wrongs don’t make a right. The people of Chicago has the right to know what happened. Now they never will.
If it goes to civil court the evidence will be made public
You can disagree all you like. I AM a “people of Chicago”. And the majority of the people I have talked to and who live here and pay taxes want the city and the CPD to move on and deal with things that ACTUALLY matter and affect us as citizens. CPD closes only one out of every SEVEN cases. They placed 12 detectives on the Smollett case. The average murder case gets 1 or 2. I would like them to focus on doing their jobs. And also maybe not waste hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars because of their own corruption. That would be nice too.
I thought a prosecuting attorney had a job to do — prosecute the person the grand jury indicted to the best of her/his abilities. Why is she still getting a paycheck? Has Chicago actually gotten crookeder? I wish terrible things happen to Jussie and his smirk.
Valiantly: I humbly disagree. We’ll have to agree to disagree.
I’m from Chicago and I also talked about this case with my family, friends and coworkers.
The vast majority of them ( I’m guessing about 90 % ) wants Jussie to pay for the cost of the false report for the hoax crime he staged and some type of fine on top of that.
It’s a shame that the rich, connected and famous get away with a crime.
I’m mostly very concerned about the damage this arrogant pr*ck has caused to people that are already very vulnerable in these f’d up times of the ” Orange Nightmare “.
I say sue Jussie’s pants off, he gave the MAGA crazies ammunition, like they need any to be even more hateful!
I’m from Chicago. The man was indicted by a grand jury, he’s not innocent. Favors got called in. In the long run he should just pay the amount, and shut up. That way he gets to keep his facade of innocence in the public; and the city can move on. Any lawsuit will make any evidence they have public. Trying to stand his ground to “prove his point” or whatever won’t work out well for him in the long run.
Yes, Iboogi- it’s a case of “be careful what you wish for.” Having the charges completely dropped has backfired even harder than his “statement” hoax. Now he’s the butt of jokes, and most everyone is pissed except the Trumpsters who have a new rallying point.
A lot of my Chicago relatives want him to pay the fine and apologize and stop doubling down, but they also think the CPD are being ridiculous and the original 16 charges were ridiculous.
I’m sorry but this should have gone to trial. No matter how sliced this mess is insane. If he staged the attack. CPD lack of professionalism, the dropping of charges, now the this mess.
And even if it had gone to trial you know what he would have gotten? Probabtion. Because it is a Class D Felony. He would never have gotten jail time. People don’t seem to get or understand that. But the CPD certainly know this. So what is all of this performative outrage by the CPD about??
It need not have even gone so far as trial. Admitting that he faked a racist, homophobic attack and plea bargaining his charges down to something nominal would have been expected and accepted.
Instead he was allowed to walk away, nothing, still claiming his innocence and giving the middle finger to everyone that cared (intense national attention). That is not justice in any way and it pisses people off. The State Attorney’s office royally screwed up.
Before anyone starts, yes, there are far worse injustices. This post is regarding Jussie Smollett.
I’m from Chicago and I also talked about this case with my family, friends and coworkers.
The vast majority of them ( I’m guessing about 90 % ) wants Jussie to pay for the cost of the false report for the hoax crime he staged and some type of fine on top of that.
It’s a shame that the rich, connected and famous get away with a crime.
I’m mostly very concerned about the damage this arrogant pr*ck has caused to people that are already very vulnerable in these f’d up times of the ” Orange Nightmare “.
I say sue his pants off, he gave a lot of ammunition to the MAGA crazies, like they need anymore for their hatred for the most vulnerable in our society.
Shame on Jussie and all of those who are excusing his horrific behavior.
@LadyT the only thing Kim Foxx royally screwed up was not being honest about why she dropped the charges. Which was because of CPD’s handling of the case. The leaks, the breaking CPD policy by talking to the press. They essentially handed Jussie’s lawyers all the ammunition they needed. They blatantly poisoned the jury pool. And Kim Foxx – attempting to not publicly throw the CPD under the bus for their actions made it about something else. The irony of this is that in doing so the CPD is now throwing HER under the bus. The idea that Kim Foxx should lose her job over this case is utterly ridiculous. Especially considering that the people who ran this investigation- terribly- get to keep theirs.
And yes this post is about Jussie. And it’s also about the CPD.
@LoveBug what part of Chicago are you from? I ask because I find it makes a huge difference as to what someone’s opinion on this case is. I also ask because lots of people like to say they are from Chicago when they are they really from the suburbs around Chicago. My friends and I like to say unless you’re paying Cook County taxes, you’re not from Chicago.
Jussie isn’t big enough to have the entire jury pool so biased against him he couldn’t have a trial. Most people were still on his side at first. Also, what happened to the televised open to the public redemption trial he originally wanted?
Someone in CPD made unprofessional leaks. Otherwise I’ve seen absolutely nothing doubting their evidence. As for the press conference ruining the whole case? Absurd. The LAPD just held a fully informative one on Eric Holder shooting Nipsey Hussle and Holder is NOT going to walk away scot free because of it. Ludicrous to keep saying that.
I will never forgive Jussie for the harm he has caused to minorities and the members of the LGBTQ community in potential future hate motivated cases, especially in these hard times.
I don’t believe for one split second that his sweetheart deal is a fair deal.
I hope he gets what he deserves in life.
Yes, there are more serious cases in Chicago and for that matter in the USA, but that doesn’t diminish this very high profile ” hate crime ” that truly is on the national level.
In my opinion he didn’t deserve prison time, but there is a lot of room between prison and walking away with barely any punishment.
Our justice system is based on how much money and connections someone has.
Disgusting!
Thank you..Valiantly for letting me know that even though I was born and raised in the city of Chicago, same as my parents and grandparents on the maternal side of my family, that I’m not a real citizen of Chicago. You can make excuses and deflect all you want, but it will not change my opinion of this selfish, arrogant moron that thinks his publicity is more important than safety of the most vulnerable.
Jussie is not above the law and nobody should be. I fully support this laws suit against him, although I don’t think it goes nearly far enough, he should pay a very hefty fine for his lies, crimes and the harm he caused.
Police departments, news outlets, political offiecs, etc leak information all the time! I’m not sure why the narrative has been that this is just a Chicago thing
True. It’s like ordering a burger and complaining the tomato is not quite ripe when the meat is totally rotten. (The meat being the so-called prosecutors.)
My understanding is now a judge will look at the evidence and determine if he was lying or not and serve a judgement if they believe he’s guilty.
This isn’t about the cost, its about making sure he’s found guilty and can’t run around saying the charges were dropped and he’s innocent.
Jussie is a lying piece of garbage.
The Chicago PD leaks like a sive and is corrupt
Chicago prosecutors are corrupt, biased and can be bought
Everyone is the worst in this situation all at once. My sympathy goes out to hate crime and harassment victims who won’t be believed or are scared to report crimes now, and also to the people having to do emotional labor with all the MAGAts Jussie validated and empowered to dismiss minority experiences.
Yeah Wow, I think you’ve really said it best out of all the comments so far. Not to mention, given the abysmal clearance on murder cases, that police investigative efforts were diverted away from truly important stuff. And this has probably amped up the distrust that keeps people from talking to the cops and giving the evidence that might clear those murder cases.
I completely agree. Justin has done a huge disservice to people who REALLY are the victims of hate crimes, with his hoax. Imagine if this was a woman who claimed to have been raped, then it was discovered she actually staged it—infuriating and incredibly frustrating for the many women who are already undecided about reporting their own rapes. The more hoax hate crimes there are (rape is, as I see it, a hate crime against women) the more the real victims of such hideous crimes will suffer. Justin is pure trash.
A judge will look at the evidence and render a judgment ? What are you talking about ? Even civil suits go to trial. The city can sue him, he will defend the suit, it goes to trial (or settles). True, not all trials are by jury, but there’s a trial nonetheless.
Oh good god. Chicago is like a parent trying to discipline but has no idea what they are doing.
Regarding evidentiary standards and burden of proof before a trier of fact, in criminal court it’s beyond a reasonable doubt with the burden on the prosecution. In civil court it’s a preponderance of the evidence. What preponderance of the evidence means is that the burden of proof is met if there is greater than a 50% chance that, based on all the reasonable evidence shown, plaintiff’s claims are true and defendant did in fact do the wrong that caused the damage. IMO – the city has a slam dunk against Justin in civil court.
This! Thank you!
So much this! The city is fighting it because they will get to present all the evidence that showed he was guilty and why the case turned the way it did. If Jessie would have just walked away, they probably would just be attacking Kim Foxx. But he stepped out continuing to say he was a victim. So now they get to present evidence with a lower burden of proof. They knew he wasn’t going to pay so now they get to take him to court and present their case.
I don’t know the rules for a city suing a citizen, but the statement is explicit that it’s a civil complaint, so it’s not dependent on Jussie having been convicted of anything, it’s an entirely different burden of proof. All that’s needed for the civil case is ‘more likely than not.’
The city needs to prove in civil court that Jussie committed the crime, but only by a preponderance of the evidence (51% certainty) rather than beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s very, very likely the city can do that. And if Jussie loses, he could be forced to put up to three times the amount of the fine ($390,000).
I think what he did is terrible and if it’s not worth the Cook County State’s Attorney’s time and effort to follow through, I’m glad justice might be done in civil court instead.
He would have been far better off pleading guilty to one of the minor charges and accepting probation. The fact that he got away scot free with not even a guilty verdict or plea going on the record is what has people most upset.
AGREED! IMO – The point is not that he only would have gotten probation, it’s that he did something so reprehensible that he needs to be found guilty and APOLOGIZE!!! Hell he doesn’t even need to be convicted, he needs to admit fault, otherwise he is even a worse POS if that is possible. I personally don’t know a lot about Chicago politics, but I am not considering politics in the case…that only deflects from what happened which was effing SICK!! THE GUY IS TWISTED,
Chicago and it’s politics may not be the best, but it’s pretty much the same everywhere. We just get all the media attention; and the other states get to say oooooo look how horrible Chicago is… News will have you thinking you can’t walk around the city without getting shot, the cops are openly taking money on the streets, etc.
I’m not a fan of our judicial system as a whole, but we can’t just say everyone is horrible and look past the acts of a man who did something wrong.
The fact that he gave a “vindication” press conference, when he knew he got off on a technicality, was priceless too. His attorney should have told him not to do that. He rubbed it in and played injured party.
What technicality even? The DA actively pursued charges, got indictments, then poof. Dropped it all it a sneaky, secret manner and acted like it was normal to do so. They’ve since been called out by professional organizations stating it was absolutely NOT standard practice.
Well to be fair, CPD needs the money to settle all the corruption, murder, and brutality cases they’re being sued for.
They would get $130k from Smollet. Taxpayers have shelled out over 700 million in corruption and brutality cases.
☝🏽
Exactly with all the cases getting dismissed due evidence planting by dirty cops let it go CPD. What about all the tax payer money wasted on man hours for false arrest, housing innocent victims in jail and all the law suits to follow? Where that outrage? I’ll wait. If Jussie is guilty the reason the case didn’t get any further was the CPD’s mishandling. IMO ruining to the press every 5 minutes and the fake out rage by the chief and Rahm Emanuel (hard eyeroll).
I’m so tired of this story – I wish both sides would just shut up and go away . But all the police are super angry at Kim Foxx, who is the Cook County State’s Attorney who dropped the case against Smollett. They want her to resign. That’s a bigger story than the measly $130,000.
There isn’t a “both sides” on this. Smollet gave ONE interview. The CPD has been on a months long publicity tour on this case. At this point theg need to just take the L and move on.
$130,000 is not a measly amount. Hate crimes and sexual assaults are notoriously hard to prove. How many victims won’t come forward for fear of a fine like this?
It would have been better to have Jussie’s trial and prove his guilt if that’s what the CPD believes. That would show that fines and prosecution only apply to genuine cases of false reporting.
If only Rahm Emmanuel and CPD put this type of energy into the mishandling of the Laquan McDonald murder and/or police corruption and/or CPD’s known history of police brutality and/or the multiple millions of dollars of settlements CPD has paid out in the last 5-10 years for police misconduct…
I’m hoping our new mayor, and the newly elected progressives in the city council, will clean things up!
I’m not optimistic about that – at all. One of the reasons I voted for Preckwinkle is thaf she vowed to get rid of Eddie Johnson. Lightfoot is already talking about how he should keep his job. So yeah…don’t hold your breath.
Unfortunately both Lightfoot and Preckwinckle are cool with casinos in Chicago, which is frankly the last think I want to see here.
Oh, this guy.
Haha, he won’t go away!
Firing up their MAGA supporters. I’m so sick of this. If CPD was near flawless for everything else, then sure, but they are a rampant mess of corruption and hemmoraging (sp?) tax payer money so their indignation can take several fucking seats.
EXACTLY. On both counts. And honestly I’m frankly tired of people whining about this “miscarriage of justice”. These are the same people who when the Laquan MacDonald case came out didnt say a damn thing. THAT is a “miscarriage of justice”. This is a case of things not going the way the CPD wanted and them having a temper tantrum over it. Is Jussie guilty? Maybe. Maybe not. Honestly I don’t really care at this point. What I care about it is the out of proportion response to this case by the CPD.
How does letting Jussie go fix the wrongs of LaQuan MacDonald? Or any person brutalized or murdered by any law enforcement officer? One does not equal the other.
I didn’t cheer when OJ got off, and I won’t cheer for Jussie. Their ability to manipulate the system is not righting other injustices
That is really sad that you don’t care, I certainly do. Being black is not easy, I struggled before with racism and discrimination, but since the neo-nazi got into office, it has gotten worse. Life is hard enough, we don’t need more prejudice. Based on the hoax crime this ignorant idiot created, it will be even harder for many of us to be believed, if we have something to report. Jussie shouldn’t have walked so easily and arrogantly, this is all wrong and I don’t believe one word that comes out of his disgraceful mouth. There are many awful and unjust things happening every day, but that doesn’t erase what this selfish idiot did. Period.
At one point Jussie used a lawyer who represented the cop who murdered Laquan McDonald. Yes, racists and MAGATS screaming about this need to chill. Yeah a lot worse goes on in Chicago than cases like this. However, let’s not kid ourselves that Jussie Smollett is absolved of blame in this situation.
When people keep commenting the same thing, on the same post, I really start to wonder who they are. And if they are somehow connected to the gossip personally. Valiantly.
Does the CPD normally sue people this way? I’m talking about non-celebs too. I doubt it. I don’t think Jussie is innocent but the CPD said they don’t want to give him special treatment because he’s a celeb yet they seem to be doing just that but in a bad way right now. Any other civilian who did something similar (and they said these kinds of “fake” crimes happen a lot) probably didn’t have to pay a fine so why are they making him?
I know 4 years ago a woman (non-celeb) claimed to be kidnapped on public transportation and the case got a lot of attention. She recanted and was charged with a felony. So I think in high-profile cases charges are not uncommon for false reporting.
Interesting…wow people are crazy. Was the woman from Chicago though? I was specifically talking about the CPD. Hey I think you should make everyone that reports a “fake” crime pay the money it took to investigate the “crime”…regardless if they are famous or rich. Did this woman have to pay a fine?
Of course he wasn’t going to pay the $130k. That would be like admitting he orchestrated his own attack. Hopefully the city really does sue him. Then he has to be deposed doesn’t he? That might open him up to charges being pressed on him again I would think.
The demand for the money is a red herring. Jussie didn’t have to pay the $130,000 just because they demanded it. But that doesn’t mean that the city can’t sue him. The city can definitely sue him. The consequence of having no conviction is that they will have to first prove in court that he filed a false report. Whereas if he had already been convicted, the plaintiffs (ie the city) would be able to rely on that conviction and just have to prove their damages. And that may be the entire reason for the lawsuit, a chance to litigate in court his “guilt”.
This is no different from thousands of cases where victims of crimes sue the defendant even after he or she has been acquitted of the crime. There is no requirement for a conviction in a criminal court before a civil case can be brought. They are separate legal matters with different legal standards.
I’m from Chicago. And I definitely want to see him pay. The resources wasted on his investigation were ridiculous. And the posters above complaining about the amount of guys assigned to the case, who do you think prompted that??? Can you imagine the shitstorm if only two detectives were doing the dirty work? Then the story would be that they’re racist and homophobic because they weren’t taking it seriously and assigning enough manpower. Leaks came from a multitude of places, some the CPD (who knew from the get-go that he was lying). Leaks came from some of his neighbors in the building. Leaks came from private citizens whose security footage was used to track the assailants across town. They also came from the people interviewed from the store that the two brothers bought the rope from. While the CPD is far from a noble institution (Rahm can go eff himself), they actually did their job here, and when The DA dropped the charges in a closed door meeting, sealing the files, all with failing to communicate this to the CPD, I don’t blame them for going after him. And Kim Fox should lose her job. Happens all the time when people fail to do their job.
Well said. Can you imagine the fall-out if the CPD had NOT gone balls-out on a nationally reported homophobic racist attack? But now that Jussie’s been discredited they want to complain in hindsight. Makes no sense.
ITA with you dumbledork. You can’t have it both ways–CPD would have been castigated for not going full bore on this investigation! They took what Mr. Smollett reported at face value, that was the starting point, and they investigated it as they should.
And you are right on about the leaks and why they happened. The idea that prosecutors drop cases because there were too many leaks is completely off the wall. That is NOT why K. Foxx dropped this case.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
(jackass)
I’d admit that I want him to pay the fines because he emotionally manipulated a lot of people like me who initially believed him. Of course as the facts of the case were presented, it seemed like he was playing a big fat joke on the public. I will never forget my reaction to the small scratch on his face from “getting beaten up” by thugs. A scratch that conveniently kept his pretty face intact! LMAO.
I’m not sure if he has convinced himself this really happened or he is a good liar. Shouldn’t he be asking the police to continue looking for his assailants if this is true? Why is the studio or production company no longer standing by him?
This reminds me of after the OJ Simpson verdict when I was living in California. The only other time I’d ever seen so many angry White people was after a hockey game. There were times I was afraid for my safety.
One day a man in the grocery store went off and started yelling about how White people weren’t going to take it anymore and that there would be a race riot. The Hispanic cashier and I looked at each other. I was the only Black person within earshot so I realized that he was shouting at me. I looked at him and waited until he paused for a breath. Very quietly and very calmly, I asked him, ‘so how does it feel?’ He spluttered ‘What do you mean?’
‘How does it feel to know that a man is guilty of murder and got away with it, by working the system? Because I know how it feels. Ask any Black person you meet, and they’ll tell you they know how it feels. Maybe you should remember this.’ And I took my groceries, winked at the cashier and walked out.
I didn’t see this much outrage when men in uniform killed children and got away with it. Or when they choked a man to death and got away with it. Smullett is guilty as sin, but nobody died or was hurt. A TV ACTOR told a lie. He only really hurt himself. Yet so many people are still going crazy about this.
How does it feel?
The amount of whites in these comments angrier about Jussie vs the countless Black lives lost to police brutality and straight up murder in 2019 alone is evidence enough that they only care when Black people get away with crimes like whites.
More like, sad that Jussie gave ammunition to MAGA asshats, will make it harder for people who are truly victims of homophobic and racist attacks to speak up and be believed, and wasted police time that could have been spent investigating murders of black lives that matter. And yes, the Chicago police situation is not acceptable. And yes, they are jerks when they cry foul about the whole thing. No argument there.
Not that I would be at all that surprised if you guessed by deduction, but how do you happen to know which commenters are white?
A screwed up situation, but your last paragraph used a very broad brush to paint Chicago.