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"We think he did what he was accused of," he said. "This was not an exoneration, to say that it was exonerated by us or by someone else is not true."
He added that the charges are dropped in thousands of cases, but that the Smollett case is being reviewed because it is a celebrity.
"There are a lot of other cases (…) out of more than 5,700 people who have had some kind of prosecution or some type of deferred prosecution involving a referral at the end of the proceedings," he said. he declares. "It is wrong to think that there is a type of disability or something that we have learned about the case or something that we do not want to be broadcast."
The brothers were "perfectly prepared" to testify
The story of what happened to Smollett on that cold night of January 29 shocked the country for almost two months.
Smollett told the police that two men targeted him around 2 am, tied a rope around his neck and poured a chemical.
When they attacked the actor, who is gay, they used homophobic and racial insults, he said at the time. The police spent days scanning surveillance footage and eventually limited their search for suspects to two brothers who knew Smollett. After questioning the men, the police later said that the actor had paid them to organize the attack in order to advertise.
In the weeks following the alleged attack, the actor was arrested and accused of having lied to the police about a hate crime, causing him to be victimized. to suspect and then charged in a few weeks. All of this resulted in the surprise audience on Tuesday that closed the door on a case that intrigued the nation with its changing histories.
Gloria Schmidt, the lawyer of the Olabinjo brothers and Abimbola Osundairo, said that they were "perfectly prepared" to testify in the Smollett case. After the decision to file the case, the lawyer stated through the intermediary of a reporter that she no longer represented the brothers as trial witnesses in the case. criminal case.
When he announced charges last month, police commissioner Eddie Johnson said Smollett paid $ 3,500 to the brothers to attack him.
A few days before the onslaught, Smollett reportedly attempted to attract attention by sending a fake letter to all of his show. It contained racial, homophobic and political language, as well as white powder and a drawing of a man attached to a tree, police said.
Chicago divided on the decision to abandon the lawsuits
The case sparked political discord in one of the largest cities in America.
While the actor's lawyers hailed the case's ranking as a justification, the city's top officials issued tough statements denouncing what they described as a hoax.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the actor had falsely reported a hate crime to advance his acting career.
"A grand jury saw the evidence (and) realized that it was a hoax – a hoax on the city, a hoax on hate crimes, a hoax on good people. values that were really empathic at first, "he said. "And he used that empathy for one reason … himself."
He described this as a "whitewash of justice" that sends a message that people with power and influence are subject to different standards.
Smollett's lawyer, Patricia Brown Holmes, told CNN's Don Lemon that no one had done them any favors and that no political appeal had been made on their behalf.
"There was no political influence in this case," she said.
She said the city officials were upset because they did not know that the state's lawyer was going to abandon the case. She said that the defense team was not responsible for letting them know.
She also accused the police of disclosing incomplete and inaccurate information to the media. "The public took this information and treated it as if it were true," she said.
But when Magats dropped the charges, he said the Chicago Police Department had "done a phenomenal job" in the investigation.
"We support the work that they have accomplished, but in the end, it was the position of justice in the case," he said.
16 hours of community service and $ 10,000
In order for the charges to be dropped, Smollett had to give up his commitment and do community service, Magats said.
He agreed to waive the $ 10,000 bond and paid a total of 16 hours of volunteer service on Saturday and Monday for the Rainbow Push Coalition, founded by Reverend Jesse Jackson.
His attorneys contend that the actor was attacked in Chicago on January 29 and that erroneous information led to a hasty judgment against him.
After the charges were formally withdrawn, Smollett told reporters that he was grateful to all those who supported him. He maintained his innocence, saying that he would not put his family "under fire for this fire" for a lie.
"I've been frank and consistent at all levels since the first day," he said before leaving the courthouse. "I would not be my mother's son if I were able to a drop of what I am accused of."
Smollett said he wanted to continue his life and continue to fight for justice, equality and marginalized people.
Steve Almasy, Jason Hanna and Sheena Jones from CNN contributed to this report.
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