Tuesday morning, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office announced that they’d dropped all 17 charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett in an odd “plea deal,” allowing Smollett to escape trial on accusations that he orchestrated a false hate crime against himself and lied to Chicago police investigators, for 16 hours of community service and the $10,000 he put up as bond.
The State’s Attorney’s office insisted late Tuesday that the deal did not “exonerate” Smollett, but not until after the exchange drew criticism from commentators, Chicagoans, the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. The latter two excoriated the State’s Attorney’s decision, calling the matter a “whitewash of justice.”
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