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If the city follows up on threats to sue Jussie Smollett, the Empire's acting lawyers would insist on dismissing Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and other key players of the flash legal saga, reported a letter from Smollett's legal team by the Tribune.
"Given their apparent interest in the case, we are confident that Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson will not oppose the testimony of their sworn testimony," said lawyer Mark Geragos. in his letter addressed to the city's lawyer and dated Thursday.
"Mr. Smollett has a preference, however, for this matter to be closed and to allow him to continue his life."
A civil lawsuit would be the last legal problem faced by Smollett, who found himself at the center of an international media storm this year when he was accused of organizing a racist and homophobic attack.
Smollett was charged with 16 counts for disorderly behavior – but during a surprise hearing last week, Cook County prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges against him, causing a reaction. fiercely on the part of the public, Johnson and Emanuel.
Two days later, the city notified Smollett's lawyers by letter asking him to pay US $ 130,106, the cost of overtime spent by the police in investigating his allegations. The letter warned that if Smollett did not pay on Thursday, the city could sue.
In response, Geragos wrote that Smollett "will not be intimidated to pay the requested sum."
"Mr. Smollett vehemently denies any false statement," reads the letter, echoing public assertions of the actor's innocence last week after the charges were dropped. " Your statement that Smollett filed a false police report and orchestrated his own attack is false and defamatory. "
In the letter, Smollett 's lawyers would require to see all the evidence of the criminal case, including those who were not surrendered to the defense before the charges were dropped, and l'. The legal team would ask all the files to be open to the public.
Besides Emanuel and Johnson, the defense would also want sworn testimony from the two brothers who told the authorities that they had helped Smollett to stage the attack, as well as their lawyer and her husband.
Geragos' letter appears to have motivated the city's public statement on Thursday night confirming that the legal department was preparing a civil lawsuit in a county court.
"Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of overtime spent by the police investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019. The Legal Department is currently preparing a civil complaint to be filed in Circuit Court. of Cook Country, "said Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement Thursday," Once the complaint is filed, the legal department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to the team. Mr. Smollett, based in Los Angeles. "
According to McCaffrey's statement, lawyers plan to pursue "the full extent of damages" permitted by city law.
The Cook County Lawyer's Office, Kim Foxx, sparked heated controversy last week when prosecutors abruptly dropped the lawsuit against Smollett.
Prosecutors first insisted that the complaint against the actor was strong and then reinstated in a Foxx forum, which claimed that unspecified evidence would have made the conviction "uncertain".
This unusual gesture surprised police authorities in Chicago and was quickly condemned by Emanuel, who called it "money laundering".
Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, said that he was heading to a Subway sandwich shop to drive to his apartment located in the 300 block of East North Water Street on January 29th. when two men approached and shouted homophobic and racist insults. hit him and wrap a noose around his neck. Smollett said that they had also poured a substance resembling bleach on him and that they had shouted: "It's a country of MAGA", with reference to the slogan of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, "Make America Great Again".
Twitter @repeau
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