Actor Jussie Smollett was on Tuesday indicted for a second time on charges of lying to police about a racist and anti-gay attack he allegedly staged on himself in downtown Chicago, renewing a divisive criminal case that drew worldwide attention last year.
The indictment came from a special prosecutor who was appointed after Cook County prosecutors dropped the same charges in March last year.
The new charges were sure to reignite many of the tensions that surrounded Smollett a year ago. When his claims first emerged, he drew a groundswell of support from fans and celebrities, and gave an emotional television interview about the attack.
The case came to reflect the polarized state of political discourse in the US. Many Democrats initially called it a shocking instance of racism and hate under US President Donald Trump’s administration, while Republicans depicted it as yet another example of liberals rushing to judgement and disparaging the president’s supporters as bigots.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb said in a statement that Smollett faces six felony counts of disorderly conduct, charges that stem from four separate false reports that he gave to police in which he contended he was a victim of a hate crime “knowing that he was not the victim of a crime.”
The statement immediately raised questions about county prosecutors’ decision to drop the charges and made it clear that those prosecutors had not adequately explained to special prosecutors why they did so.
However, Webb said that he had reached no conclusions about whether anyone involved in the case had engaged in any wrongdoing.
Smollett, who is black and gay, was originally charged with disorderly conduct in February last year for allegedly staging the attack and lying about it to investigators.
The allegations were dropped the following month with little explanation, angering police officials and then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Tina Glandian, Smollett’s attorney, questioned Webb’s decision to file new charges.
The indictment “raises serious questions about the integrity of the investigation that led to the renewed charges,” Glandian said, citing the use of the same detectives who were part of the original investigation into the attack to conduct the latest probe, despite Smollett’s pending civil claims against the city and police officers for malicious prosecution.
He is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on Feb. 24.
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