I imagine they have a lot of more serious crimes to pursue. This just seems to be high publicity so it is getting more resources. That means other crimes with high impact victims get de-prioritized. Plus it is Chicago, it is still rather corrupt there. I would mistrust anything with publicity involved until it is proven to be valid.
The fake lynching looks like a crime done in order to pass a law, possibly to help someone get elected president, which is quite serious. Dropping the charges is highly suspicious too, having been done by people who were also associated with the presidential candidates trying to get their law passed.
Yep. The prosecuter who dropped the charges was also being mentored at the time by the senator who was trying to pass the "anti-lynching" law the same week. Their bill had failed several times, then this incident happened and the bill passed within a week. The actor was also close friends with the same senator.
This story isn't about politics, it's about corruption at the high offices.
Something that should never be overlooked in this case is that after police identified the suspects and made arrests Smollett still stuck to his lie.
He was ready to send innocent people to a potential life sentence or the death penalty (which is how hate crimes are treated), and in fact is still maintaining his lie.
Not to diminish what a dunce this guy was, but the only crimes currently punishable by death in the US are ones in which the victim has died. And maybe treason, espionage, and other weird crimes against the government. Those are unclear at the moment.
