Jussie Smollett's attorneys have filed a motion arguing that the actor should not have to pay Chicago $130,000 for a police investigation into what he claimed was a racist and homophobic attack, because he couldn't have known how much time and money the department would spend looking into his allegations.
The motion, filed this week by the former actor in the television series "Empire" maintains that Smollett did not stage the attack as the Chicago Police Department alleges. But the motion also suggests that it wasn't necessary to spend 1,836 hours of police overtime and "untold hours of non-overtime police work" on the investigation after Smollett reported that he was a victim of an attack in downtown Chicago in January.
According to the motion, "filing of a police report, in and of itself, does not necessitate a sprawling investigation nor does it, as a practical matter, usually result in an investigation as extensive as the one the CPD chose to undertake in this case." The attorneys also argue all a police report does is enable "the police and prosecutors to decide whether and how to investigate."
The police department has said it only did what was necessary and that it conducted a potential hate crime investigation because Smollett alleged that two masked men hurled racist and homophobic insults at him, beat him and looped a noose around his neck. Police canvassed the area for witnesses, conducted scientific analysis of the rope as well as the liquid that Smollett said the men threw at him, and collected hours of surveillance video from cameras mounted on buildings, inside taxi cabs and from cameras along miles of city streets.
The city's lawsuit against Smollett is just part of a larger legal battle over the alleged attack that has included: criminal charges against the actor by prosecutors who alleged he staged the attack to further his career; a stunning decision by the Cook County State's Attorney's office in March to dismiss those charges; and a judge's appointment last month of a special prosecutor to investigate that decision.
In the filing, Smollett's attorneys contend that the only reason the city filed suit to recoup the cost of the investigation was because former Mayor Rahm Emanuel disagreed with the decision of the state's attorney's office to dismiss the charges against Smollett.
"The city's claims and purported damages are a vindictive effort to prosecute charges that the State's Attorney pursued and then chose to drop," the filing reads. In an earlier filing, Smollett's attorneys characterized the city's lawsuit as a "perverse tactic" because the charges were dismissed.
Emanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson have made no secret about their anger that the charges were dropped, and after Smollett refused the city's demand for $130,000 the city sued in April for that money.
The police department maintains that there is overwhelming evidence that the actor staged the attack and paid his two "attackers" to carry it out. And the recent appointment of a special prosecutor to examine how State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office handled the case raised the possibility of the charges against Smollett being reinstated or of new charges being brought.
The attorney who filed the motion, William J. Quinlan, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, and a spokesman for the city's law department said the office does not comment on pending litigation.
One legal expert said he didn't see much chance that the motion would be successful.
"If, in fact, there's a valid claim that the city inflated the cost in doing this investigation then the judge can have a hearing," said David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches at Chicago Kent College of Law. "But this is a silly motion that's not going anywhere."
A federal judge hearing the city's lawsuit has said she will rule on the actor's request to toss the suit during a hearing on Oct. 22.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.
“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.
The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.
They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.
Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.
Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.
Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”
In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)
Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)
President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
