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 Smollett was indicted on Feb. 11 on six counts of disorderly
conduct, capping a five-month investigation by a court-appointed
special prosecutor who overruled a decision by the state's
attorney's office last year to dismiss the original case. His
arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) in Cook County
Circuit Court in Chicago.
The 37-year-old actor, who is black and openly gay, has insisted
he told the truth in his account of being accosted on a darkened
street in January 2019 by two masked strangers.
According to Smollett, his two assailants threw a noose around
his neck and poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and
homophobic slurs and expressions of support for President Donald
Trump.
Police arrested Smollett a month later, accusing the actor of
paying two brothers $3,500 to stage the attack in a hoax aimed
at gaining public sympathy and raising his show-business
profile.
He was subsequently charged in a 16-count indictment, but the
Cook County state's attorney's office dropped the charges three
weeks later in exchange for Smollett forfeiting his bail without
admitting wrongdoing.
The dismissal drew an outcry from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and
the city's police superintendent, who branded the reversal a
miscarriage of justice, leading a Cook County judge to appoint
former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb to review the case.
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Webb said he determined that further prosecution of Smollett was
warranted, calling into question prosecutors' judgment in dropping
the original case but finding no wrongdoing on their part. Webb said
he was continuing his investigation, however, of whether authorities
acted improperly in last year's dismissal.
Smollett's lawyer, Tina Glandian, has said authorities made the
right decision in dropping the charges in the first place, and
suggested the special prosecutor's probe was biased in its use of
the same police detectives involved in the original case.
Smollett, who has lost his role as a singer-songwriter in "Empire,"
a Fox television hip-hop drama, sued the city of Chicago in
November, accusing municipal officials of maliciously prosecuting
him.
The city sued Smollett last April seeking to recover the costs
incurred in investigating his hate-crime report.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Writing by Steve Gorman in Culver
City, Calif.; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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