horrifying attack on Jussie Smollett

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LTC8K6 said:
We've seen the tendency in many states to let a lot of crimes go unpunished. So why not just let this go?

The latest DA to announce that many crimes will not be prosecuted is in Massachusetts.

https://rollins4da.com/policy/charges-to-be-declined/
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So theft under $250 would not be prosecuted on her watch? Beautiful! I hope she’s DA when I’m visiting there and stealing some AirPods...

Look, I get it. Some crimes have circumstances that warrant dropping charges or diversion. But Smollett’s actions here don’t seem to have any mitigating circumstances. He’s not poor, disadvantaged or had a good reason. This was a stunt to garner attention for a very selfish reason and it hinged on his status as a gay black man. It might cause (has caused?) people to question the motives of any other gay/black people with legitimate complaints. This is one they should have thrown the book at.
 
LTC8K6 said:
We've seen the tendency in many states to let a lot of crimes go unpunished. So why not just let this go?

The latest DA to announce that many crimes will not be prosecuted is in Massachusetts.

https://rollins4da.com/policy/charges-to-be-declined/
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What circumstances do you feel warrent letting this go?

Should anyone be able to file a false hate crime report and get away with it? And do you believe hate crimes only should be exempt from false reporting penalties , or should we just do away with the concept of punishing false reports all together?

Personally I don't think this choice would improve the justice system. I feel that changing the law to allow more false reporting would lead to more people using it to resolve disputes. If I can't get in trouble , why wouldn't I call the police and say my neighbor is molesting his kids? Worst case he has to be healed by the police, best case I never have to deal with him.

Or are what you saying that Jussie Smollett should be able to get away with this crime? Then the question becomes what do you feel makes him special? He has done this before so he has a history, and I can't see any factors here that would lens themselves to mitigation or even sympathy.

Or, do you believe only famous people should be able to get away with false reporting? Again I don't see how this would help society. And in fact with their influence and power, I would believe this would be even worse.

Or is this simply a case of special pleading? Essentially " this case is unique in an indefinable way, so while changing the law wouldn't be appropriate, I feel this situation should be handled in a specific way. ". This I believe is the most likely situation in your case, you feel gross being on the same side as trump supporters so you really want something to make that go away.
 
theprestige said:
Honestly? I'd be willing to trade an admission of guilt for a slap on the wrist.
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Add in paying back every penny wasted, plus about that amount in fines (whatever the fine would normally be, adjusted for his income. ) , and id agree with you.

He wasted money that is needed for real emergencies (que someone passing an article about wasteful spending and equating that to this. Not you, but someone wants to. ) bare minimum is an admission and pay back with a DBAA fee high enough to make him regret the decision.
 
I think it is the lack of admission of responsibility that is bothering me the most with Smollett.

I'd be a lot more lenient if he'd admit responsibility and do some actual community service time. Maybe in a shelter or at a food bank.
 
He cried on Good Morning America when talking about the attack.

If he confesses or accepts responsibility it's like he would also now have to say he needs psychiatric counseling. He can't do that.
 
He can't say that he has a mental problem. The focus has to strictly be on white racists and homophobes with none of the focus on his own problems. THEY have to stop what they are doing - not HIM.
 
I'm all for leniency when faced with people committing crimes just to stay alive, but this dude isn't trying to stay alive, isn't hungry, is already in a position that does't have to worry about being hungry...he's taking the piss and made a mockery of real victims.

**** him and the horse he rode in on.
 
Mumbles said:
Police publicly made multiple, contradictory, claims to the public at large. That alone pretty much kills any chance of obtaining a conviction - tainted jury. They also apparently contradicted the FBI's view on the letter, and the two brothers stated that the check they put forward as payment for the attack was, indeed, for training.

There's also the low public confidence in Chicago police's work - among other issues, there's the long-running "black site" where confessions were literally tortured out of people, the habit of picking random kids up and then dropping them off in more dangerous territory (often, in the territory of gangs that rival the gangs that they live in the territory of), and sitting on the Laquan McDonald shooting video for over a year to help get Rahm Emanuel reelected - this is such a scandal that he didn't even bother running for another term.

And then there's the wildly over-the-top charges - 16 counts, when they didn't even charge the three police who helped cover up the aforementioned McDonald shooting?

Basically, the CPD is so crappy that there was little chance of getting any conviction, much less the decades of prison time they wanted.

Hilariously, police, and Emanuel, are claiming that it's actually Smollett that has ruined their reputation, which only confirms that they're still entirely unaware of the problem.
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You know nothing about Chicago, Kim Foxx's mentor is getting absolutely destroyed right now. The election is 75 to 25 against Preckwinkle Foxx is getting destroyed right now. In Chicago.

People who actually live in Chicago are presently rejecting the race grifters.

By the way, not one of those things you cited would ever in a million years be admitted at trial, even with an incompetent like Foxx in charge.
 
Mumbles said:
Police publicly made multiple, contradictory, claims to the public at large. That alone pretty much kills any chance of obtaining a conviction - tainted jury. They also apparently contradicted the FBI's view on the letter, and the two brothers stated that the check they put forward as payment for the attack was, indeed, for training.

There's also the low public confidence in Chicago police's work - among other issues, there's the long-running "black site" where confessions were literally tortured out of people, the habit of picking random kids up and then dropping them off in more dangerous territory (often, in the territory of gangs that rival the gangs that they live in the territory of), and sitting on the Laquan McDonald shooting video for over a year to help get Rahm Emanuel reelected - this is such a scandal that he didn't even bother running for another term.
And then there's the wildly over-the-top charges - 16 counts, when they didn't even charge the three police who helped cover up the aforementioned McDonald shooting?

Basically, the CPD is so crappy that there was little chance of getting any conviction, much less the decades of prison time they wanted.

Hilariously, police, and Emanuel, are claiming that it's actually Smollett that has ruined their reputation, which only confirms that they're still entirely unaware of the problem.
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Good lord is all I can say.

I realise that the US has some violent cities, and with that come more violent police, but dammit I admit I'm sometimes shocked.

Was it Baltimore that recently had a cabal of cops robbing drug dealers of their stash and then forcing other drug dealers to sell it for them? Crazy stuff.
 
Given that Mr Smolett was treated with kid gloves and no one took him to a black site for interrogation, maybe the long and tragic history of the CPD has no bearing on this highly public case?
 
carlitos said:
Given that Mr Smolett was treated with kid gloves and no one took him to a black site for interrogation, maybe the long and tragic history of the CPD has no bearing on this highly public case?
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since the cops are viewed as being so bad, what will anyone see when they are doing the right thing?
 
Whip said:
since the cops are viewed as being so bad, what will anyone see when they are doing the right thing?
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Handle things well, and the case may go very well. wildly overcharge, while the higher-ups attack and complain on tv, and contradict themselves...then, prosecutors will have a *much* more difficult time. There isn't even a need for anyone in defense to bring it up - jurors show up with it in the back of minds.

Think this is nothing? The police chief in the George Zimmerman case managed to ruin his PD's reputation across the country just by getting a bunch of things wrong in press conferences, and ended up resigning.

I'll point out, though, that Chicago PD pass along, what, 20% of murder cases to prosecutors (or is that the local Baltimore PD)? People don't just forget when entire institutions repeatedly show themselves to be corrupt.
 
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Mumbles said:
Handle things well, and the case may go very well. wildly overcharge, while the higher-ups attack and complain on tv, and contradict themselves...then, prosecutors will have a *much* more difficult time.
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lol, the prosecutors went to the grand jury, not the cops.

Hoo boy, just spreading wrong information in the defense of a total pariah.
 
The new Chicago mayor should be a step in the right direction in the continued evolution of the CPD. She's an ex-prosecutor, but also a key member and proponent of the Police Accountability Task Force. Seems like more than the typical fig leaf in her case.
 
carlitos said:
The new Chicago mayor should be a step in the right direction in the continued evolution of the CPD. She's an ex-prosecutor, but also a key member and proponent of the Police Accountability Task Force. Seems like more than the typical fig leaf in her case.
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Explain how this relates to Smollett. Will she be okay if he doesn't pay the $130,000? Will she pursue him legally until he pays?
 
Eddie Dane said:
Was it Baltimore that recently had a cabal of cops robbing drug dealers of their stash and then forcing other drug dealers to sell it for them? Crazy stuff.
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The Gun Trace Task Force, yes. Had toy guns, so that in case they shot and killed a child they could plant it on the kid, one guy had multiple machetes and a grappling hook, etc. Federal prosecutors (I tend to trust them far more than any local force) described them as less a group that grew corrupt, and more the most corrupt cops they could find, all put on one group.

ETA: There are far better cases where far better police still managed to botch things up to the point where people got off without conviction - such as the Bundy family, or the recent failure to convict anyone in the Waco biker gang fight (which left 9 people dead). This was initially true for the Danzinger Bridge murders as well. This one? Smollett would almost certainly skate, either found "not guilty", or by the CPD heads prejudicing the jury.
 
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Mumbles said:
ETA: There are far better cases where far better police still managed to botch things up to the point where people got off without conviction - such as the Bundy family, or the recent failure to convict anyone in the Waco biker gang fight (which left 9 people dead). This was initially true for the Danzinger Bridge murders as well. This one? Smollett would almost certainly skate, either found "not guilty", or by the CPD heads prejudicing the jury.
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I was sort of thinking this. Especially after hearing that all of the charges were dropped in the Waco biker gang fight.
 
New Chicago Mayor seems tough on Smollett. And another "emergency hearing" tomorrow...


Lori Lightfoot: Smollett should "be held accountable"; Foxx owes public "more information"

CWB Chicago said:
Fresh off her victory to become Chicago’s next mayor, Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday again said the public deserves a better explanation of how the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office resolved the Jussie Smollett case. Lightfoot went on to say that the public had seen “a very compelling case” that Smollett “staged a hoax.”

“He’s got to be held accountable,” said Lightfoot, the first openly gay person and the first black woman to be elected mayor in the city, in an interview on MSNBC.

The state’s attorney’s office, headed by Kim Foxx, “has to give a much more fulsome explanation. We cannot create the perception that if you’re rich or famous or both that you got one set of justice and for everybody else, it’s something much harsher. That won’t do, and we need to make sure that we have a criminal justice system that has integrity.”

“The state’s attorney’s office has to provide more information about the rationale for the decision to drop the charges,” Lightfoot continued.

Turning to the alleged hate crime itself, the former federal prosecutor pointed to the publicly-available evidence: “I saw…a very compelling case, with videotapes, witness statements, and other information that looked like he had staged a hoax. And if that happens, he’s got to be held accountable.”

Meanwhile, CWBChicago sources have said that another “emergency hearing” in the Smollett matter is scheduled for Thursday. Details regarding the subject matter and who requested the hearing were not immediately available.
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http://www.cwbchicago.com/2019/04/lightfoot-smollett-should-be-held.html
 
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