diff --git a/strings/json_normalize.c b/strings/json_normalize.c
index a7849d95b3c..c5ace6f4e17 100644
--- a/strings/json_normalize.c
+++ b/strings/json_normalize.c
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ json_normalize_sort(struct json_norm_value *val)
     break;
   }
   case JSON_VALUE_UNINITIALIZED:
-    DBUG_ASSERT(0);
+    /* can be from am empty string */
     break;
   default: /* Nothing to do for other types. */
     break;
@@ -498,7 +498,6 @@ json_norm_to_string(DYNAMIC_STRING *buf, struct json_norm_value *val)
   }
   case JSON_VALUE_UNINITIALIZED:
   {
-    DBUG_ASSERT(0);
     break;
   }
   }
@@ -826,14 +825,9 @@ json_normalize(DYNAMIC_STRING *result,
     in_size= strlen(s_utf8);
   }
 
-
-  if (!json_valid(in, in_size, &my_charset_utf8mb4_bin))
-  {
-    err= 1;
-    goto json_normalize_end;
-  }
-
   err= json_norm_build(&root, in, in_size, &my_charset_utf8mb4_bin);
+  if (root.type == JSON_VALUE_UNINITIALIZED)
+    err= 1;
   if (err)
     goto json_normalize_end;