The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett, finding him guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct. He was accused of staging a hate crime and lying about it to law enforcement.
The six-man and six-woman jury began deliberations on Wednesday following the actor’s own testimony on Tuesday. The jury ended the day’s deliberations by 5 p.m. local time and resumed at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday.
A Fox News report following Smollett’s testimony on Tuesday noted his words likely did more harm than good.
“Smollett testifying in his own defense is one of two things, or maybe both: a narcissistic criminal defendant who is doubling down on his charged lies to law enforcement or defense attorneys who know they are way behind and are throwing a low probability Hail Mary to try to get their client off,” former U.S. attorney Neama Rahmani, who is not involved with Smollett’s case, told Fox News Digital.
“Either way, Smollett’s story was a bizarre attempt at forcing a square peg into a round hole by offering every possible explanation for the state’s digital evidence except the most obvious one: that he is guilty. In the unlikely event he is acquitted, Smollett’s decision was a genius move. But it is far more likely that the jury sees through his ruse and Smollett is convicted. If so, the judge may sentence him to prison time for obstructing justice and perjuring himself on the witness stand,” he said.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, “Smollett is facing six felony charges of disorderly conduct for filing false police reports. The charges carry a potential jail sentence of up to three years. Smollett is expected to escape lockup if found guilty, however. Because nobody was physically hurt by his alleged crime and his lack of a criminal history, experts expect that Smollett would receive probation and community service if found guilty.”
Smollett has been accused of hiring two African brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to stage a hate crime against him back in 2019.
Prosecutors said Smollett initially tried to mislead police about the alleged attackers’ race, while law enforcement claimed the actor used “the symbolism of a noose to make false allegations” when he told detectives that the suspects looped a rope around his neck.
“We have proven [that he is guilty] by overwhelming evidence,” Special Prosecutor Dan Webb said Wednesday afternoon. He added that the entire ordeal was “just plain wrong.”
“To outright denigrate something as serious, as heinous, as a real hate crime — to denigrate it and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such horrible historical significance in the history our country,” Webb added.
“He was hoping the Osundairo brothers would not cooperate with the police,” Webb said. “He got exposed, and now we’re in a trial. That’s what happened.”
The Daily Wire’s Tim Meads reported:
The case has captivated America as the Hollywood actor has defended himself against accusations from nearly three years ago that he staged a fake crime early in the morning on a cold January night. He claimed that he was beaten down by thugs calling him the n-word and yelling homophobic slurs while saying this is “MAGA country.”
Smollett had previously told media he believed he was attacked because he “came at [President Trump] really hard.” He has maintained he really was attacked that night, despite the doubts of many.
As reported by CNN, “He was initially indicted on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct in March 2019, but the charges were dropped weeks later. After a special prosecutor was appointed to look into the case, a grand jury indicted Smollett on new charges in February 2020.”