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Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright
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I have a little time today so I will bite. Not to be the PC police but the use of words like "strung up" in reference to an African American is... well Louis... you know what goes next so I won't bother to write it. Lets just chalk this one up to us all being human/multi-tasking without fully thinking about what we post sometimes. I say this because I have never seen you make such a mistake in the past so this definitely gets a pass in my book
Regarding this whole Smollett debacle, as an attorney for close to 20 years, I have never seen anything like it in my entire career. I had a cup of coffee as a State's Attorney, Public Guardian and Public Defender -- all by the age of 30 just to get real trial experience under my belt before accepting a position with a law firm. I never saw anything like this - period.
Of course there has never been a case quite like this one with a celebrity involved (at least not in Chicago) but I have been directly involved with somewhat similar cases where Average Joe is involved and they almost always walk away with paper following them -- meaning a CD ("conditional discharge") - permanent criminal record... or probation - permanent criminal record. Never a Nolle (decline to prosecute/dismissal). A "Sup" (Supervision) or some type of carved out deferred program (for example - no criminal record if all of the conditions are met over the course of 1 year) would have been a homerun, and under this amount of evidence would have been the absolute best that a defense attorney could have reasonably hoped for. And a Sup or deferred program would be light (pretty much a slap on the wrist if you will) but at least that would have kept up the appearance of propriety, justice and fairness. But under this amount of evidence... a Nolle? Never happens.
Yes, this one should be thoroughly investigated.
Excuse the typos guys I am trying to get it all in while eating lunch. Also some the criminal laws may have changed since the last time I practiced criminal law but from friends and colleagues still in criminal practice, no, this was a
"one-off".... something they NEVER see in the day to day practice of criminal law.