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| "Empire" gains unwanted notoriety |
A
STINK THAT gained touches of lasting stench on Tuesday when a Cook County judge
went along with prosecutorial recommendations that the criminal charges against
Smollet be dismissed.
Of
course, Cook County will keep the $10,000 cash he had to post as bond in order
to avoid being locked up in the Cook County Jail. But Smollet was able to walk
out of the Criminal Courts building with claims of innocence and the ability to
go about making grandiose statements to the effect HE was the crime victim.
It’s
a wonder he didn’t accuse police of improper activity against him. Then again,
maybe that statement will be forthcoming.
Smollet
was the guy who claimed that back in January, he was walking along the streets
of Chicago when two men grabbed him, threw a noose around his neck, and began
shouting racial and homophobic slurs at him.
SUPPOSEDLY,
ONE OF the men also shouted that “this is MAGA country,” implying that this was
motivated by people who firmly believe in the Age of Trump and all the nonsense
that President Donald spews on a regular basis.
A
Trump-motivated hate crime.
Except
that Chicago police fairly quickly found flaws in the account, and the two men
then told police that Smollet paid them a few thousand dollars to stage the
attack against him.
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| WATKINS: Dismissed the case |
Which
led to criminal charges being filed against Smollet, and all the ideologue
nitwits of the world being eager to claim this was just another case of fraud.
Smollet, who is both black and gay, is just a liar who shouldn’t be trusted,
like everybody else who happens to not be white and Protestant.
A
REAL AMERICAN, as these people would prefer to define it.
That
version of the story, however, fell apart on Tuesday, when Judge Steven Watkins
used what was expected to be a routine status hearing to dismiss the case – at the
request of prosecutors.
Smollet’s
attorneys say there was no advance warning or deal. It’s not anything
resembling a plea agreement. The case was thrown out of court. Not that we’ll
ever know details, for the judge also issued an order keeping the court file of
the case under permanent seal.
With
prosecutors saying in court that this agreement is, “a just disposition and appropriate
resolution to this case,” it makes me suspect there was some sort of error in
the handling of this case by the police during the investigation – something that
would have ruined any chance of getting a criminal conviction that would have
held up under appeal.
NOT
THAT I know that for sure. This case is now under seal, which means we’re never
going to be informed as to why prosecutors were willing to write off the case
against Smollet, who many were more than willing to demonize as a liar who was
worthy of whatever criminal punishment the courts felt like dishing out.
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| JOHNSON: He's furious |
So
are we supposed to go back to the account where Smollet was the victim of racially-motivated
thugs? Smollet himself insisted Tuesday that he has been, “truthful and consistent
from Day One” in talking about the incident.
For
what it’s worth, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was said to be “furious”
that prosecutors would dismiss the investigation his officers put together. Of
course, Johnson was the guy who went around saying Smollet was particularly
contemptible for being a black man who’d stage a racially-motivated attack
against himself.
Which
means it’s likely that Johnson will be the one who winds up taking the fall
for this incident. Even though I’m sure there’s enough “blame” to be passed
around. Johnson said early on that this case “pissed everybody off,” and now
that list of irritated individuals includes the ideologues who were taking joy
from Smollet’s arrest.
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