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Jussie Smollett trial begins as actor accused of faking racist attack

 


Jussie Smollett is due on trial Monday to face charges of lying to Chicago police officers over being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack nearly three years ago.

The old one Empire The 39-year-old star claimed he was assaulted on the streets of downtown Chicago on January 29, 2019. However, brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo claimed he paid them $ 3,500 to organize the attack.

Smollett alleged at the time that two men placed a noose around her neck and poured bleach on her, saying, “This is MAGA country,” in reference to the “Make America” ​​campaign slogan. Great Again ”by then President Donald Trump.

The Osundairo brothers, who had appeared on Empire as extras, had been captured on footage from security cameras carrying rope and bleach on the night of the attack.

Smollett, born in California, has been charged with disorderly conduct, a Class 4 felony carrying a sentence of up to three years in prison, although, according to the Associated Press, experts predict he would likely be sentenced to probation and community service, if found guilty.

The Osundairo brothers had previously told police they carried out the attack on Smollett’s instruction, an allegation they should repeat when they take the witness stand during the trial.

Smollett, the brothers alleged, planned the attack in hopes of landing a pay raise for his role as Jamal Lyon on the Fox series Empire, which took place between 2015 and 2020. In his defense, Smollett’s lawyer alleged that Olabinjo asked Abimbola to attack the actor to prove that Abimbola was not gay.

Police arrested Smollett on February 21, 2019 on 16 counts of filing a false police report, charges to which the star pleaded “not guilty.” The charges were dismissed a few weeks later on March 26, 2019.

An explanation for the dismissal has not been publicly disclosed, although Smollett was later asked to commit to 3 hours of community service and waive his $ 10,000 bond in reimbursement to the city for its investigation.

In August of the same year, an investigation was opened into the reasons for the dropping of the charges, with former US prosecutor Dan Webb appointed as special prosecutor. Charging Smollett with lying to police, a grand jury then issued a six-count indictment against the actor. He pleaded not guilty.

While Smollett’s comrades publicly supported him, his character was written from the later episodes of Empire.

For more Associated Press reporting, see below.

Jussie smollett
Jussie Smollett after his appearance in Leighton court on March 26, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. The actor’s trial, in which he is accused of lying to police officers about an alleged racist and homophobic assault, is set to begin on November 29, 2021.
Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images

Buried in nearly 500 pages of Chicago Police Department reports is a statement from a woman who lived in the area who said she saw a white man with “reddish brown hair” who appeared to be expecting someone that night. .

She told a detective that when the man turned away from her, she “could see what appeared to be a rope hanging under her jacket.”

His comments could support Smollett’s claim that his attackers draped a makeshift noose around his neck. Moreover, if she testified that the man was white, it would corroborate Smollett’s statements – widely ridiculed because the brothers, who are from Nigeria, are black – that he saw the pale or white skin around the eyes of the man. one of his masked attackers.

One of the defense attorneys, Tina Glandian, suggested during a March 2019 appearance on NBC Today show that one of the brothers could have used white makeup around his eyes to make Smollett think he was white. To answer the jury’s skepticism, Glandian could ask the brothers about a video she talked about on the show that she says shows one of them in white reciting a monologue of the Joker character from a movie.

Given that there is so much evidence, including the brothers’ own statements, that they participated in the attack, it is unlikely that Smollett’s lawyers will try to prove that they were not involved. . Perhaps this could lead the defense to claim that Smollett was the victim of a very real attack by the brothers, perhaps with the help of other people, who now only involve the actor so that prosecutors do not charge them as well.

The check for $ 3,500 could be the key. While the brothers say it was their fees to carry out the fake attack, Smollett offered a different and much more innocent explanation: that he wrote the check to pay one of them to work. as a personal trainer.

“I guess the defense will focus on this,” said Joe Lopez, a prominent defense lawyer not involved in the case. “If they were texting about training sessions, checks that he (Smollett) wrote to them for training, photographs, the defense would use it all.”

What they will almost certainly do is attack the credibility of the brothers – an effort that will certainly include a reminder to the jury that the brothers do not face the same criminal charges as Smollett, although they do admit to having participated in the staged attack.

“Whatever Smollett is responsible for they are responsible,” said David Erickson, a former state appeals judge who teaches at Chicago Kent College of Law and is not involved in the case. “Have they participated and are they leaving?” What is that ?

Erickson said he expects prosecutors to tackle this issue before Smollett’s lawyers, because they won’t want to appear like they’re trying to hide something.

Finally, Smollett’s career could take center stage. On the one hand, prosecutors could make the same point as then-Police Commissioner Eddie Johnson when he announced Smollett’s arrest in 2019: that Smollett believed the attack would give him more fame and would earn him a raise on a hit TV show.

But Lopez said defense attorneys could ask the jury the same question he asked himself.

“How would that help him with anything?” ” He asked. “He’s already a star.”

Jussie Smollett in court
Flanked by lawyers and supporters, actor Jussie Smollett (C) arrives at the Leighton Courthouse on February 24, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. Smollett has pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct charges in a new criminal case linked to allegations that he committed a hate crime against himself.
Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images

Sources

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2/ https://www.newsweek.com/jussie-smollett-trial-begins-actor-faces-charges-faked-racist-attack-chicago-maga-1653823

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