The six-count indictment — the most recent twist in a case that gripped the nation from the start — came after 16 felony disorderly conduct counts Smollett was previously facing were unexpectedly dropped.
Smollett told authorities he was attacked in the early morning hours of January 29, 2019 by two men who were yelling racial and homophobic slurs.
He laid out the plan and rehearsed it, prosecutors said, and gave the friend, Abimbola Osundairo, and his brother, Olabinjo, a $100 bill to buy clothing and rope for a noose and instructed the duo not to bring their phones to the attack.
A week before the alleged attack, a letter containing white powder and a drawing of a “stick figure hanging from a tree” was sent to the Chicago set of “Empire,” police said.
In March 2019, Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct by a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury.
Revealing little about the reason why, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said the decision came after reviewing the case and after the actor agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond.
First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats, the lead prosecutor, said Smollett had no prior felonies and was not a danger to the community.
In June 2019, a Cook County circuit judge approved the appointment of a special prosecutor to independently investigate the handling of Smollett’s case.
Also in June, Chicago police released body camera footage showing Smollett with a white rope tied in a noose around his neck on the night of the alleged attack.
Webb said in a statement Foxx was unable to provide “documentary evidence” showing “other dispositions of similar cases prior to the Smollett case that would justify this disposition.” Foxx, who had admitted fault in her office’s handling of the case and said it could have been more transparent, dismissed Webb’s decision to indict Smollett weeks before the 2020 primary election as political.