The Illinois Supreme Court denied a motion Friday that sought to toss out new charges accusing former Empire actor Jussie Smollett of lying to police about being targeted in a racist and homophobic attack last year.
Smollett’s attorney’s filed the emergency motion in February asking the supreme court to compel Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Toomin to remove a special prosecutor appointed to the case after those charges were dropped last year and vacate the new charges filed against him early last month.
The state supreme court denied the motion without further comment.
On Feb. 11, special prosecutor Dan Webb announced a new indictment against Smollett, who again faces charges of disorderly conduct stemming from the January 2019 report he made to Chicago police about the alleged attack.
Smollett was charged the following month by Cook County prosecutors with lying about the attack but the charges were suddenly dropped soon after.
Smollett, who is black and openly gay, claimed he was jumped by two masked white men near his Streeterville home. During the attack, he claimed the men shouted homophobic and racist slurs while punching him and pulling a thin rope noose over his head.
A subsequent investigation by police detectives determined that Smollett paid two acquaintances to stage the attack.
