Jussie Smollett has been found guilty on 5 out of 6 charges in the alleged hate crime hoax trial.
The jury found Smollett guilty on the first five counts and not guilty on the last one after a contentious week of witness testimony, counsel arguments and deliberation.
The 39-year-old “Empire” alum was charged with six counts of disorderly conduct related to false statements to Chicago police officers in regard to a 2019 hate crime against himself. In 2019, he claimed that two men attacked him due to his skin color and s*xual orientation.
Since being accused of staging the attack, Smollett has maintained his innocence and said during his two-day testimony that “there was no hate crime hoax from my standpoint.”
Prosecutors, however, argued that Smollett carried out a “dry run” of the attack the day before it occurred in 2019.
Among the surprising claims made in Smollett’s testimony was the revelation that the actor received a text from CNN’s Don Lemon, supposedly relaying information that the Chicago Police Department didn’t believe Smollett’s account of what happened.
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.”
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
