A 17-year-old, Caden Speight, wearing a MAGA hat, reported being abducted by four Hispanic men, leading to an Amber Alert. However, authorities later revealed the story was fabricated. Speight had purchased camping gear and rode away on a bicycle after parking his truck and shot himself in the leg to perpetuate the hoax. The sheriff announced that Speight’s story was completely made up and charges are still being considered due to the use of taxpayer-funded resources.
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Jussie Smollett has reached a settlement with the city of Chicago, agreeing to pay a $50,000 donation to the Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts, a charity supporting underprivileged youth. This resolves a lawsuit stemming from the city’s investigation into Smollett’s 2019 reported hate crime. The settlement amount is significantly less than the city’s initial demand of $130,000 to cover investigation costs. Smollett has consistently denied staging the incident, despite facing and having charges dropped related to filing a false police report.
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The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Jussie Smollett’s conviction for staging a hate crime, citing the improper appointment of a special prosecutor after the initial charges were dropped. The court ruled that the state was bound by the initial agreement to drop charges, regardless of public dissatisfaction. This decision does not address Smollett’s claims of innocence, and the special prosecutor disagreed with the ruling, emphasizing the substantial evidence of Smollett’s guilt. The ruling effectively ends the criminal case, although the city of Chicago may still pursue civil action for restitution.
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John Q. Hosedrinker