Judge in Jussie Smollett's case firm on appointing special prosecutor

A week after 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett's legal team filed three motions to overturn the appointment of a special prosecutor for his criminal case, the judge has stood by his decision of appointing the prosecutor.

The new prosecutor can likely bring new charges against the actor, reported Page Six.

While filing the motion, Smollett's lawyers also argued that the new prosecutor would expose the actor to double jeopardy.

This comes after Smollett's legal team last week asked the Cook County judge Michael Toomin to reverse the order. But the judge on Wednesday announced that the decision was final.

Smollett in January complained that two men attacked him and yelled racial slurs as he is a black and a gay.

However, after investigations, he was indicted on 16 felony counts by the city of Chicago after it was found that the actor orchestrated the attack.

But, the charges were dropped as he forfeited USD 10,000 and agreed to do some community service.

Taking into account the dropping of charges, retired appellate court judge Sheila O'Brien in April, filed the petition for a probe of State attorney Kim Foxx, who dropped charges against the actor. She wasn't satisfied with Foxx's handling of the case.

"This was not about whether Jussie Smollett's guilty or not guilty. It was about Kim Foxx and her duties as a state's attorney and whether she fulfilled her duties as the state's attorney in this case," O'Brien said in an interview with Chicago Sun-times.

( With inputs from ANI )