Erin Ailworth reports for the WSJ (corrected from an earlier, incorrect version):
CHICAGO--Prosecutors on Wednesday charged actor Jussie Smollett with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report when he claimed to have been the victim of a racist and homophobic attack last month.
Mr. Smollett turned himself in to police on Thursday, Chicago police said, according to the Associated Press.
The charge is a class 4 felony, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. It carries a penalty of 1 to 3 years in jail, and up to a $25,000 fine, according to the state Legislature's website.
This is a very strange case. Strange that (if the allegations are true) he did it and strange that he thought he could get away with it.
The story notes at the end:
Corrections & Amplifications
Jussie Smollett has been charged with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said a grand jury had indicted Mr. Smollett. Also, a headline on an earlier version of this article misspelled his last name as Smollet. (Feb. 21, 2019)
This post has been corrected accordingly.
Decencyevolves: It's funny that this story elicits not one but two posts on this Law and Order site, while the averted massacre of politicians and journalists by a crazed white supremacist in the coastguard merits none. The fact that the Secretary of Labor, while US Attorney, headed off a prosecution of a notorious wealthy serial pedophile also merits none. Why is that do you think? Does the political party or race of the miscreants involved play any role in this choice?
Nope, I simply posted a development in a story that a lot of people are interested in and that popped up on the news sources I follow. I actually hadn't heard about the Secretary of Labor story.
"Prosecutors led by Alexander R. Acosta, who is now the secretary of labor, violated federal law when they failed to tell victims about an agreement not to prosecute Jeffrey E. Epstein, a wealthy New York financier accused of molesting dozens of underage girls, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
The agreement not to pursue federal sex trafficking charges, negotiated in secret while prosecutors told victims that a case against Mr. Epstein was still possible, violated the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act, ruled Judge Kenneth A. Marra of Federal District Court in West Palm Beach, Fla. He gave the government and the two victims who sued 15 days to discuss what remedy should apply in the case."
Seems alot more significant, doesn't it? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/jeffrey-epstein-judge-prosecution-agreement.html
It is a significant story, and I will post on it when time permits.
No inference that I think one story is more significant than another is validly drawn from the fact that I didn't post on the latter. One possible reason, and the one in this case, is simply how busy I am when the story hits the news. I was particularly busy yesterday, when the Epstein story was making headlines, and didn't look at the news much. The Smollett story was the day before, when I happened to have a bit more time.
It’s funny how this story elicits an implied accusation of racism which, if true, means the guy making the accusation frequents racist blogs.
Well,
How many U.S. Senators supported this crazed white supremacist?
Which political party supports him now?
How many major media figures supported him on National Television?
From Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, to Robin Wright and Don Lemon, one would have thought that we were looking at Smollett-Weiner 2020!
-- https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-i-believe-jussie-smollett-and-you-should-too
-- https://www.theblaze.com/news/jussie-smollett-is-not-alone-check-out-the-long-list-of-hate-crime-hoaxes-in-the-era-of-trump