Look, I get it. We’re writing about Jussie Smollett which is keeping him fresh in everyone’s mind, but on occasion we writers do feel inclined to complete a story from start to finish. This may not be the last article about Smollett since we still have to find out what kind of sentencing he’s going to receive, but unless he serves actual jail time, no one is going to care.
The biggest goal of this entire case was to put the liar on blast for faking a hate crime. It was to make it clear that the expenditure of government resources was an absolute waste, and such hoaxes would not be tolerated by the Chicago PD. That’s something the entire city and their officials should have agreed to, but instead a deal was made in March of 2019 with Jussie Smollett. Alternatively, they agreed that he just needed to pay $10,000 and do a few hours of community service, and all charges would be dropped.
It should be noted that the total cost of the investigation ended up being well over $150,000.
So, who made this decision in the first place? Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. At the time, she was the state attorney and had decided to recuse herself from the case while also appointing the job to her First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats. Despite claiming she didn’t know it was unethical to do so, proof was brought forth that she had been warned about move.
Foxx is no longer Chicago State’s Attorney, so it doesn’t really matter who’s decision it was in the long run. What does matter is that even though the case had been dropped and sealed shut, another judge was petitioned and a new decision was made which led us to this moment.
On December 9th, 2021, after deliberation by jurors, Jussie Smollett was convicted of 5 out of 6 charges for staging the “hate crime” and then lying to police about it.
“Nearly three years after he claimed two Trump-loving bigots beat him up, tied a noose around his neck and doused him in bleach, Jussie Smollett was convicted Thursday of staging a hate crime in a misbegotten bid to raise his public profile.
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“Twelve jurors in Chicago criminal court found the disgraced actor guilty of five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report following testimony from 13 witnesses and more than nine hours of deliberation.
“As the jurors read out the verdict, Smollett, 39, stood huddled with his attorneys and kept his eyes trained on the panelists, remaining stoic as a phalanx of family members, who watched the eight-day trial from the front row of the gallery, sat frozen.”
If there was any justice in this world, he’d serve a few years in jail on top of being forced to pay all legal fees, the initial investigation’s fees, and then some, just to make it clear that this type of behavior is unacceptable.
Unfortunately, we’ll just have to settle for the amazing reactions from twitter on his conviction.
I'm SO glad they caught & convicted Jussie Smollett's attacker.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) December 9, 2021
Jussie Smollett has been found guilty on the first five charges. I hope he doesn't beat himself up over this. 😀
— Susan St. James (@SusanStJames3_) December 9, 2021
Tonight, Jussie Smollett can rest knowing that his attacker has been convicted.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 9, 2021
In the criminal justice system, racially based hoaxes are considered especially heinous. On Twitter, the dedicated virtue signalers who proped up Jussie Smollett are members of an elite squad know as Blue Checkmarks. These are their receipts.
Dumb Dumb pic.twitter.com/LynJTP9lZv— Kevin Dalton (@NextLAMayor) November 29, 2021