Charges against Jussie Smollett were excessive, says Chicago state attorney

State attorney Kim Foxx, whose office handled the prosecution of Jussie Smollett, referred to him as a "washed up celeb who lied to cops" and said that the charges against him were excessive.

Jussie Smollett was charged with 16 felony counts, after he was accused of faking an attack on himself on January 29.

Kim Foxx, state attorney, maintained that it was an excessive amount of felonies being charged on Smollett, reported Variety.

According to the messages obtained by Variety, it came out that Foxx on March 8, wrote to one of her associates, just after Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts, " Sooo...I'm recused. But when people accuse us of overcharging cases ... 16 counts on class 4 become exhibit A."

"Yes. I can see where that can be seen as excessive," the reply came from the associate.

Foxx even compared the charges to those being faced by R. Kelly, " Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16."

The associate replied, " With some other members of the state attorney's office, we'll take a hard look at how we charge the cases and get it to something that covers what needs to be covered without being excessive and ultimately pointless."

She further added, " On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it's indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn't mean we should."

The associate replied, "Agreed".

Foxx said that she has conversations with someone from Smollett's family and so excused herself from the case. Later she said that she didn't recuse herself in the legal sense but distanced herself from the case.

However, on March 26, the charges were dropped by the state's attorney in exchange of USD 10,000 forfeited by Jussie and that he do community service.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson criticised the dropping of charges. Later, Smollett was sued for USD 130,000 by the city of Chicago to recoup the costs covered during his investigations.