Mass outrage as criminal charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped.

Jussie Smollett arrives at a press conference. AP.

Criminal charges against actor Jussie Smollett, who was charged with lying to police and faking a hate crime, have been dropped and the court case sealed. Yahoo News. Smollett's only punishment was to forfeit his $10,000 bond. Smollett also did 16 hours of community service as well. The descion has proven to be extremely unpopular even among other Chicago officials. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said it was a "whitewash of justice" and asked "where is the accountability in the system?" Chicago police were similarly outraged. For his part, Smollett claimed he had been the victim all along. 

My Comment:

This is a massive miscarriage of justice. The 16 felonies that Smollett was charged with had a maximum sentence of 3 years each, which means that Smollett would have faced 48 years in prison, essentially a life sentence, assuming he wasn't released early. What is he getting now? Not even a slap on the wrist. 16 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine? How is that justice?

Remember, Smollett did several horrible things. First of all he sent himself a package that contained a white powder and forced a police response to something that was obviously false. When that didn't get the attention he thought it deserved, he hired two Nigerian men to rough him up and then falsely claimed that two white Trump supporters did it to him. 

It's very important to note that if there had been a pair of white males out that late at night in Chicago (during a massive cold snap), it's very likely that they could have been arrested and charged. Even if the truth did come out about Smollett and his race hoax, their lives would have been totally ruined. They would have done nothing to deserve such treatment but they would have been branded as racists, probably lost their jobs and could have even gone to prison. And there was also a decent chance that this event could have caused riots or even retaliatory attacks. People could have been killed because of what Smollett did. 

The whole thing seems massively corrupt. It's clear that if a normal person had done what Smollett had done they would have had the book thrown at him. It's unclear what factor got Smollett off here. It could have been his race, his sexual orientation, his politics or his fame, but it was likely the combination of all four. Apparently a racist, gay, black man who's mildly famous is above the law in Chicago. 

I think there needs to be an investigation into the prosecutors that dropped the charges against Smollett. It seems obvious that guilt wasn't a question here. It's not like they thought they would lose the case, and even if that was a possibility they still could have gotten a plea bargain that would have at least resulted in prison time. My guess is either it was motivated by politics or that someone got let off. 

I did think that Smollett may have been slightly overcharged as a prosecution tactic. My thoughts when the charges came down was that Smollett would probably only have to serve a couple of years in prison, or maybe even less than a year in jail. That wouldn't have been perfect justice given the gravity of the crime he committed, but it would have been something. Some justice is better than no justice at all.

But to have him get away free and clear with no record? It's disgusting. The man tried to frame two innocent people and thankfully that didn't work. But he also tried to paint half the country as racist, homophobic and violent. He also could have incited violence from people who's world view is already warped enough to believe that racial attacks like this are common. He did a very bad thing and to have him get away with it is beyond belief. 

If there is any hope of actual justice in this case it has to come from the federal government. Mailing yourself a white powder is a serious federal crime. The federal government could also charge Smollett with a hate crime, and it's pretty clear he was motivated by hate. However, I have no idea what the status of such an investigation could be and it's not clear at all if Smollett will be charged. 

This has to be one of the most shameful things I have seen a prosecutor do and I have been following crime and criminals since High School. It's so beyond the standards of appropriate behavior that I hope that there are some severe consequences to the people responsible for it. Because there can't be a country when people can just fake a hate crime like this and get zero punishment...