Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Considers Suing Jussie Smollett To Recoup Money Spent On Case

CHICAGO (CBS) -- With all charges dropped, Jussie Smollett's record is one step closer to being wiped clean, but Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is considering suing Jussie Smollett to recoup some of the wasted money the city spent on the case, CBS News has learned.

CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said there is no precedent for something like this.

"None. I must have talked to 50 prosecutors and judges today, and every one of them was shaking their heads," Miller said. "Never seen anything like it before."

Charges against Smollett were dropped for 16 hours of community service and an agreement to forfeit his $10,000 bond.

"It's frankly outrageous," Miller said.

But for Chicago the costs of his case were much greater.

"The city saw its reputation dragged through the mud. The financial cost, this $10,000, doesn't even come close to what the city spent in resources to actually look over the cameras, go through data, gather all the information that actually brought the indictment by the grand jury," Emanuel said.

CBS News learned Emanuel is considering suing Smollett to recoup some of those tax payer dollars wasted, adding up to $150,000. That's 15 times more than the bond the actor forfeited Tuesday.

Even with the lead prosecutor calling Smollett guilty, Miller said even that's not a slam dunk case.

"They could sue him civilly," Miller said. "But they'd have a tough time because he's still saying 'I didn't do anything wrong. You investigated this case, but  I'm a victim. I'm not a bad guy.' The city is out, chalk it up to experience, but they cannot chalk it up to the fact that there's no deterrent for other people not to lie to the police department."

This case could be reviewed by the attorney general of the state of Illinois, but in a statement Tuesday night, that office said it has no plans to get involved.