Thread by @McAdooGordon

Smollet back in session.

Prosecutor now going to argue about aggravating factors - whether they exist for the judge to consider

Prosecutor:

Jury found him guilty of 5 felonies.

He lied to jury in his testimony.

No contrition in 3 years.

That’s his roadmap: seriousness, lied to jury, no contrition.

He has said like 3 times now that he wants to talk about them.

Me: Just do it buddy.

This is actually not great advocacy for a sentencing. The judge already knows all this - he sat in the trial. This is for the camera or to counteract all that celebrity stardust.

This is a better point - asserting he was denigrating true victims of hate crimes.

This guy is an old school prosecutor. Boy is it not persuasive- too repetitive.

“I know you know the facts.” - Tgats when the judge is giving you the “I know all this already, counsel” look.

He is boring the crap out of everyone. My God.

This will take all night at this rate.

He keeps digressing, and there are digressions from the digressions, which he digresses from to digress.

I’m starting to feel bad for this prosecutor- & I never do that.

He must have been a force in trial before I’m guessing because a lot of judges would have cut off another prosecutor waaaaaay before now.

Oh no. He did research and he’s going to tell us about it.

On to factor 2:

“I was going to summarize some facts but I’m not going to.”

But now he’s doing it anyway.

Factor 3: oh no. More research.

This kind of person has to tell you how they arrived at their conclusion instead of just telling you what it is they concluded.

Wow. A quote that someone didn’t express contrition can show they are an unmitigated liar. Wow.

That’s from the Illinois Supreme Court.

Asks for jail. Max is 15 years in the 5 charges. They defer to the court as to the time to serve.

Restitution: Asking for $130,000

Probation: judge can give up to 30 months but they have a limitation under Ill. law they can’t do prison & probation on same Felony 4 charge.

They want jail on some charges & probation on others. Point out he lied to cop in CA in his DUI case there.

Community Service: they agree with defense about that. Give him some as condition of probation.

Reminding the judge that the earlier case was going inadequate & public confidence needs to be restored.

He thinks the trial largely did that but some punishment due.

Defense wants all that Smollet has suffered is enough. His reputation; his job, etc.

Reminds judge that he said he wanted to treat this case like any other.

But says it’s a misdemeanor dressed up like a felony instead.

He’s arguing that the enhancement ladder the govt was arguing really doesn’t apply to this level felony. Interesting state law issue. He’s comparing statutes to show where his case fits in - stuff the judge should be familiar with.

Arguing that the judge would have to legislate, which isn’t for the court.

Restitution: he’s arguing dates. Most of the investigation is after the brothers confessed.

Wants the restitution to be the $10,000 that Smollet paid before.

Already did community service, which he can not undue “unless you have a time machine.” Ha!

This lawyer’s advocacy is pretty good. He’s making points that the judge SHOULD think about. Even if the judge doesn’t agree.

Pointing to Smollet’s community service as a teen. Says he didn’t do that. (That’s good advocacy.)

But. . . “That’s the person we want to crucify?” Ugg. No.

A good point here - probation recommended low level supervision.

Saying it’s bi-partisan now that racial disparities in the criminal justice system are not okay, gives Trump credit for First Step Act, for example.

He’s given the judge a list of his own cases to show his consistency in sentencing himself.

That is good advocacy. He put it in his sentencing memo.

He’s asking the judge to sentence to probation.

Asserts “most” black peoples were falsely accused. Interesting.

Claims a juror wanted him to get probation.

Now arguing sending him to jail in the pandemic is like a death sentence. Okay.

“He dies of covid for a level 4 felony?”

Says the defense lawyers have received racist & sexist threats. Smollet will get worse. That’s mental punishment.

Usually these arguments don’t work, I will say.

“He has suffered. It’s enough.”

Not asking for dismissal.

Asking to temper justice with mercy.

Quoting the Christ: “Let he who is without sin . . .

Bold move.

People are watching.

Black people think there is a double standard. Because there is. But this judge has followed the law. Gives the client into his hands.

How can he pay restitution- he has lost everything. Give him time to pay.

Suspended jail time would be a middle ground. Thought prosecutor would ask for it. Asks for probation.

5 minute recess.

FYI: 5 minutes in judge speak is often 15 minutes in real life.

The defense lawyer was smoother. They have to be. Everything is stacked against you.

Prosecutors can be clunkier & still have success.

Gives them a fat head though & when they come out into private practice they are shocked that they’ve lost their magic touch. 🙄

Oh you thought your brilliant oratory & legal acuity win you all those cases? No, it was the “Assistant U.S.Attorney” printed on your business card.

And we’re back.

Judge offering Smollet chance to talk.

Lawyer saying he advised him not to talk due to appeals rights.

Judge confirms Smollet agrees. He does.

Judge now doing what they all do- going over the history again. 🙄

Telling us how the case got revived after the first sweetheart deal dismissal.

Now telling us that the great judge it was assigned to agreed it had to be rebrought.

Assigned it to Dan Webb -at Winston Straun - did it pro bono.

How nice of them.

This is what judges & BigLaw care about - the lawyering. The firm spent a lot of time in this.

He thanks the prosecutor! OMG.

Firm prepared a report about prosecutors & the police. Then got indictment. Here we are.

Final step. Finally.

He’s now talking about the sentencing guidelines & complaining about the legislature forced cookie cutter “justice.”

He thinks the sentencing range is 1-3 years. Doesn’t think he can run them consecutive under the law.

Understands that a lot of people are interested, but the sentence is for the person.

Has to fit the offense & the person.

Nothing I can do to you that is going to be worse than the mess he’s made of his life already.

He chose to take the witness stand. Witnesses confirmed. He’s from a mixed race family. Mom is Black, Dad is a White Jewish man. He’s been an advocate & cares about social justice. So the hypocrisy is just astounding.

He’s now talking about something that happened in the testimony. Prosecutor asked him a question using a slur. He stopped the question. Judge says this shows how serious these things are. To be here for faking hate crimes is astonishing.

Judge doesn’t think he did it for money. Thinks it was for fame. For a while it worked.

“Throwing a national pity party for yourself.”

You have a wonderful side to you, but also a narcissistic, selfish side to you.

Says as a criminal judge he sees a lot of victims. They are demoralized. If the motivation was on top of that because of something about you- race, gender, age, orientation, etc. - it’s even worse.

He does think it will adversely affect crime victims. Also make first responders more skeptical.

Confident that leaders like at NAACP & Jesse Jackson are in a better position than he is to help the public understand how bad what Smollet did was. He defers to them.

Now he’s talking about why this defendant got here - not impulse, not opportunity, his crime is pre-meditated.

You woke up in the morning thinking you would do something bad.

You have good people that love you.

Talking about the script Smollet wrote.

“Not a good script for Chicago.” Ha!

He’s saying the brothers idolized him, basically that he used them. You paid them by check. “Not necessarily the best idea.” Ha!

Got props. Then you did rehearsals. You showed them what to do & going over the lines. Extreme pre-meditation he finds. It’s an enhancement.

You were running late. You had time to reconsider. But you doubled down.

Had to have a reason to be out at 2am in freezing cold.

Decided on eggs or Subway.

Using brothers and friend Brandon as patsies to pull it off.

Brothers are early. At time and place he scripted, they show up & execute the plan.

Never got the noose on him.

“You put the noose around your own neck. I repeat: You put the noose around your own neck.”

It was loose when you went into your apartment but when cops come it’s tightened up.

Then you lied to the cops from & you’ve been lying ever since.

You’re here for the lying. Jury verdict is based on overwhelming.

Because you have some celebrity, you know people in high places, journalists, lawmakers. People decrying what happened.

You used them as your patsies too. They were giving you the national pity party that you wanted.

You used them. You didn’t care that that would be bad for them.

Because you have this arrogance about you. Disgraceful.

And this is in Chicago where we may not agree on anything else but we do agree that crime is a problem. And that police resources are scarce & valuable.

You created a “heater.” A case that is so high profile that it had to be be solved. Which is not what you wanted.

You’re not a victim. You’re just a charlatan.

You’ve put your family through a wringer. You’ve embarrassed your famous friends.

Your very name is a word used to mean lying. Judge can’t imagine how horrible that would be.

He’s the butt of jokes. Judge sees nothing funny about it.

Class 4 felony, presumptively probation. But pre-meditated, harmed victims, harmed the city.

Plus the pure perjury of his testimony. Hour upon hour of it.

Penitentiary would be justified. There is a lot of mitigation too. (Me: not really.)

He’s balancing it all.

30 months felony probation. Can travel. Must report by phone. $120,106 restitution.

But going to jail now for first 180 days.

Smollet now making a fool of himself, saying his not suicidal.

“I am not suicidal.”

Did I say 180 days in jail? I got startled with how he snuck it in at the end? I was 150 days.

Defense asks to stay sentence in county jail for appeal. Judge denies.

“Defendant is remanded to the custody of the sheriff.”

Well that took a turn.

He gave him a large fine too.

He was so wound up by the end! . . . that he was talking so fast I couldn’t type it fast enough.

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https://twitter.com/McAdooGordon/status/1502080968508809217

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https://twitter.com/McAdooGordon/status/1502080864460709888

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https://twitter.com/mcadoogordon/status/1502081653820248066

It was chaos there for a minute.

Smollet said he was innocent.

That if he had “done it” it would be like putting his fist in . . . I couldn’t quite get what he said, maybe “hearts” of black men or the black community.

He sarcastically/disbelievingly said “Jail time?”to the court.

This is how narcissists are. They can’t tolerate anyone else having control over them.

He must have convinced himself that he was not going to jail.

He said twice that he respected the judge, but an outburst like that is the opposite of what a judge sees as respectful.

He just couldn’t believe he was going to jail.

I believe it. It was obvious some jail time was necessary.

It’s actually a fair sentence. The defense lawyers did a very good job with what they had.

He was railing about how if anything happened to him it would not be self-inflicted.

This guy might have Borderline Personality Disorder.

I’m thinking this judge would think that was way worse if it happened to him than Jussie will.

I wonder how long he’s been rehearsing that line.?