CHICAGO—Actor Jussie Smollett’s criminal trial on charges from his allegedly staging a hate crime against himself is set to begin Monday after three years of delays and an investigation into the district attorney’s handling of the case.

Mr. Smollett, in late January 2019, claimed two men assaulted him while yelling racist, antigay and pro- Donald Trump slogans. He also alleged they hit him and tied a noose around his neck. Investigators soon alleged that he had fabricated the event.

He is being tried for six counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports to police.

The trial has been delayed due to events including having the charges dropped and refiled and an investigation into how Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx handled the investigation. The Covid-19 pandemic added to the delays. A court official said the trial will begin with jury selection and could be completed within days.


Mr. Smollett’s lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Smollett’s legal team has said the actor has been unfairly presupposed to be guilty. Mr. Smollett has maintained the truth of his account of the assault. Mr. Smollett’s attorney in 2019 said Mr. Smollett had paid the alleged attackers for personal training, not to perpetrate an assault on him.


Two brothers are accused of helping Jussie Smollett stage an attack.
PHOTO: CHARLES REX ARBOGAST/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The actor’s career was hobbled by the charges, and his character was removed from the Fox television drama “Empire,” which was a hit show at the time.

Police charged Mr. Smollett in February 2019 with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. Investigators determined that the alleged attackers were brothers who knew Mr. Smollett, one of them having appeared on “Empire.”

The city of Chicago, citing extensive costs associated with investigating the allegedly fake crime, has also brought a civil suit against Mr. Smollett to recover costs, damages and attorneys’ fees. The civil case was moved from local court into federal district court in late 2019 because Mr. Smollett is a resident of California and not Illinois. The civil litigation has been stayed pending the criminal trial, according to a Chicago official.

According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Smollett, while filming “Empire” in Chicago, was upset over his pay and recruited Abimbola Osundairo, who had worked and socialized with Mr. Smollett, to stage an attack.

Mr. Smollett planned the attack in Mr. Osundairo’s apartment with him and his brother, Olabinjo, who had been recruited to join in the scheme, according to prosecutors. Days later, Mr. Smollett took the brothers to where the staged attack would take place and pointed out to the brothers the location of a surveillance camera, which he thought would capture the attack, prosecutors said in court filings. He also gave one of the brothers a $100 bill to buy supplies for the assault, they said. The day before the attack, the two brothers split a $3,500 check given them by the defendant and deposited into their bank accounts, prosecutors allege.

Just after 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, the brothers staged the attack on Mr. Smollett before flagging down a taxi and being dropped off at home, according to the prosecution. Mr. Smollett then provided the false report to police, according to the prosecution.

Over the course of two weeks, the city detailed over two dozen officers and detectives to investigate the high-profile event, incurring more than $130,000 in overtime fees.

In early February the police detained the Osundairo brothers and questioned them, determining that they had coordinated and staged the attack. Mr. Smollett has denied any role in planning the attack.

Mr. Smollett appears to have a hard case ahead of him, said Andrew Weisberg, a criminal defense attorney and former Cook County prosecutor, who isn’t involved in the case.

“He’s got to double-, triple-, quadruple-down on this story that sounded ridiculous from the beginning,” he said.

Chicago criminal defense attorney Darryl Goldberg, who also isn’t involved in the case, said he thinks the defense will try to offer “alternative explanations of the purported payments” to the Osundairo brothers.

Still, he said, “The jury could find what purportedly happened doesn’t make a lot of sense if it wasn’t a hoax.”

Mr. Goldberg said given the low level of the felony charged, it is unlikely that Mr. Smollett would serve any time behind bars if convicted but probably would be sentenced to probation, unless the court finds significant aggravating factors justifying a tougher punishment.

Mr. Smollett initially was indicted in early 2019 by a Cook County grand jury on 16 felony charges. They were subsequently dropped in exchange for forfeiting of his bond and two days of community service.


LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a...8108002?mod=hp_feats

Unfairly presumed guilty? Not by the legal system which is where it counts. Me thinks thou protesteth too much.

Cook County ... Nothing will come of this . Even if found guilty , there will be little to no consequences .

^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would not be so certain. Foxx got out of this one, but I do not see it lasting. Smollett does not have much of a case.

Considering many murders go unsolved there, the resources diverted to investigate his crime likely resulted in more unsolved major crimes.
I suspect the civil case will cause him more problems, if he's found guilty in the criminal case, than anything else.

I’d expect major games & a stacked jury, regardless of the evidence, no conviction.

If for some reason there is a conviction, hardly a slap on the wrist. Smollet comes out with a little more Chicago ‘street cred’.

It’ll be more of the ‘Chicago way’. If that’s it, so be, at least the Rittenhouse verdict went the correct way.

Foxx will put the worst ASA she can find on the case someone, who will make Binger look like Perry Mason.

Hopefully they will empty his bank account. Chicago PD spent hours and hours of manpower on this lying dog face pony soldier.

Gonna be a whooooole lotta perjury goin’ on in that trial…

Of the Nigerian brothers, Wiki has this to say:

"Police recovered records indicating the brothers had been paid $3,500 by Smollett. They had purchased the rope found around Smollett's neck at a hardware store in Ravenswood over the weekend of January 25."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...t_of_Jussie_Smollett

Credit for time served ( If any ) , small fine , probation . Watch and see .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Credit for time served ( If any ) , small fine , probation . Watch and see .

Thinking it is about the $130,000. If Zussie had paid the $130k, it would have been dropped long ago.

"Over the course of two weeks, the city detailed over two dozen officers and detectives to investigate the high-profile event, incurring more than $130,000 in overtime fees." c/p from OP

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Credit for time served ( If any ) , small fine , probation . Watch and see .

Will you please stop trying to bring everybody down? I swear to God. What is wrong with some of you guys? There is always someone in one of these threads pulling this shit. Cut it out.

"I'm here to kill your hopes and be right in the bargain. Look at me. I know more than you you naive little people. Here's how things really are..."

For fuck's sake, stop it.

In the Halls of Justice, sometimes the only justice is in the halls.

I find it ironic that liberal people are supporting Jussie's staged attack on himself but are hardcore opposed to Kyle Rittenhouse defending himself from an actual attack.

I expect Jussie to be found guilty and punishment will be what most any other first time offender receives which I believe is a fine, community service and probation. He won't get special treatment but the standard sentence that anyone else would receive.

Juicy

Jussie is a nobody. He’ll be found guilty and his enormous ego, eclipsed only by that of Baldwin the assassin, will be bruised. That is real punishment for the arrogant. Saving him from consequences serves no one higher up the chain of corrupt race hustlers and politicians ever aspiring. He’ll be sacrificed with a whimpering appeal for mercy. For me it’s satisfying enough that his nose has been rubbed in it and will again because Leftist rectums like him are slow learners.

I bet they convict him - easy.

Harder to say what the punishment is - it wasn't a violent crime directed at others, but it did embarrass a lot of Chicago officialdom, and wasted a lot of police time. The judge could want to make a point.

While it wasn't a violent crime directed at others, he alleged that he was a victim of a racially motivated violent crime during a time of heightened racial tensions. A reasonable argument could be made that he should have known that his allegations could result in violent action being taken by others in his name.

At least we are making some progress, and Juicy is going to trial, instead of getting off "Scott free". It is a good start in my books.