Chicago police release Jussie Smollett documents

Updated

The Chicago Police Department released more than 400 pages Thursday of official documents from "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's controversial case.

Among other things, the document drop includes case reports, arrest files and supplementary files from an investigation that was launched after the TV actor claimed he was the victim of a racist attack on Jan. 29 in the upscale Streeterville neighborhood.

Smollett, who continues to maintain his innocence, was indicted in March by a grand jury on 16 felony counts after allegedly lying to police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime.

A few weeks later, Kimberly Foxx, the first African-American woman to serve as Cook County state's attorney in Chicago, stunned the country by dropping all the charges against Smollett and sealing the case records.

In exchange, Smollett was required to do two days of community service and pay $10,000 in court costs.

Then last week, a Cook County judge ordered police and prosecutors to unseal the records after news organizations went to court.

Police are also expected to release 69 hours of video collected in the case sometime next week.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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