Posted on 03/02/2019 12:07:29 PM PST by beekay
CHICAGO -- As actor Jussie Smollett is facing a trashed career and possibly three years in prison, his likely legal play is clear to ABC7 Chicago legal analyst Gil Soffer.
"In any criminal case, if you as a defendant are looking at a mountain of evidence and you don't have a viable defense, there's almost no reason to go to trial," said Soffer, a former Chicago federal prosecutor and partner at Katten Law. "Cut your losses. You enter a plea deal."
The scrum Smollett faced leaving Cook County's jail complex would just be the beginning of the unpleasantness if the case went to court.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc7news.com ...
Pay up **** up...
You knew the Jussie story would disappear as soon as the faking of it became obvious.
Being stupid can be HORRENDOUSLY expensive.
Good !!!
Where’s the Federal charges? In memory of Desi Arnaz on his 102nd B-day, somebody’s got done serious ‘splainin to do. Trump needs to can Wray asap if they fail to bring charges over the letter.
some
Once again federal charges are not mentioned here. Or have the Fed’s decided not to pursue charges from using the US mail for Fraud and Terrorist purposes.
It has sure fallen out of the news cycle, but I think that has something to do with Jussie hiring a real lawyer, who took control of his press visibility and basically shut it down.
The only way to convict him without question is tie him to the letter.
Are his fingerprints or DNA found UNDER the letter?
Did he lick the envelope leaving DNA?
Is his DNA found UNDER the stamps?
Only physical evidence is going to convict him. There are already too many conflicting accounts to make the charges stick otherwise.
Big possibilities for him at his new job with Snopes, he'll "fit right in".
Fines and real jail time would be nice for a change.
The correct expense and any bill he pays will be quite different.
Wedding bells in his future. He’s gonna be a popular prison wife.
Once again federal charges are not mentioned here. Or have the Fed’s decided not to pursue charges from using the US mail for Fraud and Terrorist purposes.
One thing that’s been made crystal clear in this mess is that Smollet is a frikkin’ idiot.
For one thing stamp’s are self sticking these days and you no longer need to lick them.
I know that (which is why I didn’t ask if he licked the stamp) but unless he was very careful the sticky could have picked up his DNA.
"Make Smollett pay for the investigation?" There's a form for that.
From link:
Should Smollett be convicted of filing a false police report as charged, a mundane piece of paper known as report #CPD-61.230, the “Cost Recovery Incident Form,” may be the police department’s first step in recovering the costs of its investigation of Smollett’s purported hoax.
Chicago ordinance authorizes the city to seek compensation, for wages and benefits of city personnel, attorneys, costs of equipment and materials, and “any other costs allocable to the provision of services” in a variety of situations.
And the first “situation” on the city’s list of recoverable incidents is “the deployment of police to respond and provide service as a result of a person’s false reporting of a crime.”
Federal authorities are investigating the origin of a white powder-covered threat letter that Smollett received at his TV show’s production facilities on the West Side one week before he reported being brutally attacked in Streeterville.
Whoever mailed that letter is likely to be charged with, among other things, creating a hoax terroristic threat. And they'll face a double-whammy.
The city, of course, will be in a position to pursue all costs involved in that case, including the deployment of fire department HAZMAT units.
And 18 U.S. Code § 1038, “False information and hoaxes,” specifically states that—in addition to a potential five years in prison—anyone convicted of the charge “is liable in a civil action to any party incurring expenses incident to any emergency or investigative response to that conduct, for those expenses.”
And the law goes on to say that the sentencing court “shall” order reimbursement, not that it “may.”
I wonder if he put a stop payment on that check yet.
He’ll take an Alford plea.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.