CHICAGO _ Attorneys for actor Jussie Smollett have subpoenaed a slew of documents about the scandal that led to the ouster last month of Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, including any paperwork showing he was "untruthful or misleading in any statement."
The seemingly odd request indicates an apparent attempt to paint Johnson as untrustworthy as part of Smollett's countersuit against the city's attempt to collect overtime pay incurred by police during its investigation last year into the then-"Empire" actor's claim that he had been beaten in a racist and homophobic attack.
Johnson was one of Smollett's harshest critics, making several impassioned public comments accusing the actor of orchestrating a fake hate crime against himself last January.
To Johnson's apparent surprise, Cook County prosecutors abruptly dropped charges against Smollett in March, leading the city to sue the actor to try to recoup $140,000 incurred by police in overtime while investigating the alleged hoax.
Smollett, who has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, has since filed the countersuit against the city, claiming that the prosecution was malicious and caused the actor extreme distress. His attorneys have publicly accused Johnson of making false statements about key evidence in the case.
Court records show he has subpoenaed Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson's office for a vast array of paperwork on Johnson.
His attorneys want to know, among other things, how much the city spent to investigate Johnson's alleged wrongdoing and whether any attempts were made to recoup those costs. They have also requested any documents showing if evidence in the Johnson investigation was destroyed or altered.
The city has objected to the subpoena, saying it was filed improperly under the wrong legal procedure.
Johnson was found asleep in a running car at a stoplight near his home in the Bridgeport neighborhood in October. He was fired in December, weeks before his retirement, after Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she learned that Ferguson's office had uncovered evidence that Johnson had lied about what happened in October.
Sources have told the Chicago Tribune that Ferguson's office obtained video footage showing Johnson drinking for a few hours on the evening of Oct. 16 with a woman who was not his wife at the Ceres Cafe, a popular restaurant and bar at the Chicago Board of Trade building. Later that night, when officers responded to a 911 call near Johnson's home, Johnson rolled down the window on his police vehicle partway, flashed his superintendent's badge and drove off, the sources said.
The Smollett case has drawn national attention and continues to fuel criticism as State's Attorney Kim Foxx faces a reelection fight.
Police concluded that the actor staged the attack near his home in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood on Jan. 29, hiring two brothers to carry out the hoax while using racist and homophobic slurs and shouting that he was in MAGA country _ a reference to President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.
Smollett was charged with faking the crime, but Foxx's office abruptly dropped all 16 counts of disorderly conduct with little explanation at an unannounced court hearing.
The legal fallout continues to reverberate. In August, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb was named a special prosecutor and given a broad mandate to investigate the case, including looking into if Smollett should again be criminally charged for his actions that night.
