Jussie Smollett just lost a bid to have his latest hate crime hoax charges thrown out
Actor Jussie Smollett lost his bid to have his charges thrown out. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
Jussie Smollett remains indicted with six felony charges over his alleged hate crime hoax after a judge rejected his bid to have them dropped.
The former Empire star had his lawyers file an emergency petition complaining that a judge overstepped his authority and misinterpreted the law by appointing a special prosecutor to his case.
The Illinois Supreme Court rejected the petition on March 6, refusing to either dismiss the special prosecutor or to drop any of the six charges against him.
It did not give any explanation for its decision, Page Six reported.
Jussie Smollett accused of faking a homophobic, racist attack.
Jussie Smollett was indicted on the charges in February, more than a year after he claimed to have been the victim of a homophobic and racist assault.
In the weeks after the purported hate crime, back in January 2019, rumours began swirling that Smollett had played a part in its planning.
Chicago police accused the actor of perpetrating the attack on himself, and in March he was indicted by a grand jury in Cook County, Illinois on 16 counts of disorderly conduct for filing false police reports.
Smollett denied all charges. Just over a fortnight later, all 16 counts were dropped.
State attorney calls the case ‘stupid’.
The office of Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx said at the time that the decision was taken “after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case”.
On March 5, Foxx revisited the decision, telling the Ben Joravsky Show that she “thought that this case was stupid”.
“This issue with Jussie Smollett, excuse my language, it’s bulls**t,” she told the radio host, according to Page Six.
“We have an abysmal homicide clearance rate, we have horrible violence, and [the attention is on] this case about a low-level offence with an actor who pulled a prank.
““I’m not saying it wasn’t offensive, I’m not saying it wasn’t something that garnered our attention, but a year later when I’m sitting with parents who are mourning the loss of their children…”
New charges for Jussie Smollett.
Smollett has maintained his innocence throughout the saga, however Illinois officials have refused to let the case drop completely.
On February 11 it was announced that a a grand jury had returned the six indictments which Smollett now faces. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
A statement from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) given to NBC Chicago explained: “The grand jury’s investigation revealed that Jussie Smollett planned and participated in a staged hate crime attack, and thereafter made numerous false statements to Chicago Police Department officers on multiple occasions, reporting a heinous hate crime that he, in fact, knew had not occurred.
“Therefore, Mr Webb has determined that reasonable grounds exist to further prosecute Mr Smollett… Mr Webb has also concluded that further prosecution of Jussie Smollett is ‘in the interest of justice’.”
