Ever since the initial reports that Empire actor Jussie Smollett had been attacked in Chicago, the story has devolved into a complicated web of lies and "he said she said" accounts of what really happened. Smollett was eventually accused of lying about the whole thing and was hit with 16 charges. On March 26th, all of these charges were dropped which shocked the Chicago Police Department who had put so much hard work into investigating the case.
According to new public records, it has been revealed that Chicago prosecutors actually asked the police to stop their investigation into the Smollett case which is something they have no authority to do, according to Page Six. In the report, it states that the prosecution never even asked for the evidence surrounding the case, which just further adds to the accusations that the prosecution acted with less than good intentions. Police eventually followed the prosecution's orders, which came directly after the 16 charges had been laid.
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Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has been subpoenaed over the case and how she handled the whole thing. With this in mind, it's important to note that Smollett is unlikely to return to Empire, despite all of his charges being dropped.
It's clear that regardless of the legal precedent being set here, the damage has already been done to Smollett's image.