Jussie Smollett Charges Dropped: Experts Weigh In

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — It might be case closed against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, but will he be able to recover in the court of public opinion?

There are still questions about what led Cook County prosecutors to drop the charges.

The stunning reversal in the criminal case against Smollett has legal experts guessing what happened.

Less than two weeks after he pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen felony counts for allegedly lying to police about a hate crime, prosecutors have dropped all the charges.

LA defense attorney RJ Manuelian, who's not involved in the Smollett case, says it's odd that prosecutors had the case sealed.

"Which means to me there may have been some agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys not to prosecute if certain conditions were met," said Manuelian.

Prosecutors said Smollett volunteered to forfeit his $10,000 bond and perform community service. Manuelian says there may have been a lack of evidence and he believes police rushed to judgement.

"It's one thing to indict somebody. There is a saying you can indict a ham sandwich but there's another to convict somebody. We don't want to try people in the public and I feel they went after him really hard because of the elections coming up in Chicago," said Manuelian.

"I was shocked," said Variety's senior lifestyle and events editor Marc Malkin, who has been covering celebrities and scandals for more than a decade.

"I've seen celebrities do really bad things that bounce back from it and we've seen celebrities commit crimes and bounce back, but this?" said Malkin. "I've never seen anything like this."

Malkin has met and interviewed Smollett numerous times in the past. He says it's hard to tell what this will do to his career. The fallout could continue since Chicago police and the prosecution seem to be at odds over whether justice was served.

And Smollett could show up at the 50th NAACP Image Awards this weekend because he's nominated, but Malkin says this might be the time to lay low.

"I do think at the moment he does not want to be running up and down the red carpet looking too glamorous. I don't think that's a good look," said Malkin.

Manuelian says there could still be a federal case — the FBI is investigating a letter threatening Smollett that was sent to the studio where "Empire" is filmed, which Chicago police say was sent by Smollett himself.