This is all fine in theory. But why this guy? With limited prosecutorial resources, why are they doubling down on this guy? That is what I am always suspicious of.
This case is not specifically about Smollett. It's a about the perceived view that that prosecutor in the case was somehow compromised by abruptly dropping the charges. When she was asked why, she gave conflicting answers.
Personalizing it is trivializing on an absurd scale. Getting the idea in prosecutors' heads that they can just grab a year of data on any accused party is the danger here, and it should scare the pants off all of us. Over the course of a year, you've surely typed something into Google that could be misconstrued.
How about "because he couldn't let sleeping dogs lie"? The guy got a lucky break when someone dropped the prosecution. He had the opportunity to shut up and let the story fade away. He didn't take it.
No matter how lucky you are, if you keep doubling down, eventually the house takes your money.
Why not this guy? Possibly because he generated a little too much infamy and now the public wants blood. Or maybe the prosecutor believes in the defendant's guilt and thinks they can make a strong case. Maybe a mix of both.
Perhaps you'd prefer the prosecutor look at some other case but then the exact same question could be asked - why that guy?
I imagine they have a lot of more serious crimes to pursue. This just seems to be high publicity so it is getting more resources. That means other crimes with high impact victims get de-prioritized. Plus it is Chicago, it is still rather corrupt there. I would mistrust anything with publicity involved until it is proven to be valid.
The fake lynching looks like a crime done in order to pass a law, possibly to help someone get elected president, which is quite serious. Dropping the charges is highly suspicious too, having been done by people who were also associated with the presidential candidates trying to get their law passed.
Yep. The prosecuter who dropped the charges was also being mentored at the time by the senator who was trying to pass the "anti-lynching" law the same week. Their bill had failed several times, then this incident happened and the bill passed within a week. The actor was also close friends with the same senator.
This story isn't about politics, it's about corruption at the high offices.
Something that should never be overlooked in this case is that after police identified the suspects and made arrests Smollett still stuck to his lie.
He was ready to send innocent people to a potential life sentence or the death penalty (which is how hate crimes are treated), and in fact is still maintaining his lie.
Not to diminish what a dunce this guy was, but the only crimes currently punishable by death in the US are ones in which the victim has died. And maybe treason, espionage, and other weird crimes against the government. Those are unclear at the moment.
