I’m not sure you know what a grand jury is or why it would be used in this situation. Grand juries are often used as an investigative tool. They grant subpoena power to the prosecutor to compel testimony. This situation is exactly where you would use one, when an alleged victim is actually a suspect, essentially an…

Uh, there was no broken rib and he wasn’t hospitalized:

A letter that uses a tremendous amount of adhesive is going to contain a tremendous amount of trace evidence.

Finally someone in the root community has the balls to step up and defend someone who very definitely committed a crime with a super awkward, “but would a white person get the same treatment” when the answer is definitely yes.

Usually, there is kind of a division of labor, between the Feds and the State.  The Feds will usually investigate only the crimes that they might prosecute and the State will investigate only what the State might prosecute.  In some high profile, sensational cases everyone investigates the same things in duplicate,…

Maybe the mail aspect of it will lead to it being a federal case.

I suppose there were various crimes that can be attributed to the letter and who created it and how it was delivered and to whom.

Yes, terroristic threats would be more serious, but if the Feds are handling that, then it may not relate to this Grand Jury, which would be considering Illinois, state charges.

The cops also confiscated a magazine during the search. Which is an odd thing to confiscate unless they thought it was connected to the letter. 

If it comes out it’s staged, his three step plan will have to be:

I’m not so sure about that. Their public statements continued to indicate they were treating him as the victim and assure the public that no evidence had been uncovered linking him to the crime. It is only unsubstantiated leaks that tell us that CPD is suspicious of Smollett.

Grand juries are often used in high profile cases when the DA expects to get a lot of heat for deciding whether to prosecute. The point is to be able to cover his ass by having the grand jury make the official decision.  I think it makes sense to have a grand jury in this situation.

It could just be they want a grand jury to see all of the pro-Smollett evidence. That way, if they refuse to indict, they can pass the buck onto the public for not believing his story.

If he did send that letter, that’s a federal indictment. 

There are thousands of examples of Grand Juries indicting people of All races, colors and creeds for making False police reports and statements. You can easily find examples for yourself. Most of the prosecturs in Chicago who recommended a Grand Jury investigation, including Cheif Prsecutor Kimberly Fox - are black.

At this point, the F.B.I. is already investigating a threatening letter sent to Smollett at the “Empire” production offices in Chicago the week before.

Maybe next time he will pretend his fake attackers were illegals?

There was 12 cops working this because of how serious it appeared to be and the FBI was involved because he received death threats on the Empire set. 

Cops aint stupid. This is a charged case with the gay and black elements.

No doubt they put their best people on, tons of oversight, making sure they cannot be accused of being corrupt or racist or whatever. My guess is they put a black detective on lead.

You and I both know, first thing Jussie does as a defense is…

“It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me much more, a lot more.”