The Smollett case, IMHO, demonstrates that celebrities, excluding those who support Trump, are above the law. I'm no lawyer, but the prosecuting attorney said in an interview that she was following standard procedures for this type of case. Apparently, it is standard practice to substitute community service in these types of crimes. I was under the impression felons went to prison. A smart criminal should start loading up on community service projects!!! Time served before committing the crime, "Prosecutors defended the decision as a fairly common practice, citing statistics from December 2016 to November 2018 showing that about 5,700 out of 60,000 cases had been referred to “some kind of deferred prosecution or alternative prosecution.”