Barnini Chakraborty and Tyler McCarthy, Fox News, March 26, 2019

In a shocking announcement Tuesday morning, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said it will not be prosecuting Jussie Smollett, who was previously accused of faking an anti-black, anti-gay hate crime in Chicago in order to drum up publicity for his role on the TV drama “Empire.”

Fox News has learned the judge granted a nolle pros, which essentially means that the case has been dropped and that he will no longer be prosecuted for the alleged crime.

It’s unclear at this time why the court decided not to proceed with prosecution, but the former “Empire” star is expected to give a statement after he leaves the courthouse later today.

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However, Smollett was brought in for an emergency court session in which the judge ruled the case against him would be dropped.

Doubt was cast on the open-and-shut nature of the case when Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham wrote the Justice Department following reports that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx asked Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to let the FBI investigate Smollett’s allegations that he was attacked by two masked men after the former chief of staff to former first lady Michelle Obama allegedly informed Foxx that Smollett’s family had concerns about the probe.

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Smollett attorneys Tina Glandian and Patricia Brown Holmes said in a statement that Smollett’s record “has been wiped clean.”

Anne Kavanaugh, the crisis manager the actor hired, said Smollet is a “victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgement.”

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