Smollett said he paid the brothers for training advice and nutritional tips.
#LIBERAL CRIME SQUAD PICK UP LINES TV#
They said he paid two brothers he knew from the TV show “Empire” to stage the incident for publicity. as he walked back from a Subway sandwich shop.Ĭhicago police investigated the case as a possible hate crime but soon said the actor orchestrated the incident. On January 29, 2019, Smollett, who is Black and gay, told authorities he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack near his Chicago apartment early that morning.Īfter the story broke, many celebrities, politicians and advocacy groups rallied behind the 39-year-old actor, who, according to police, said the alleged attackers attacked him at 2 a.m. The next court date is set for January 27 for post-trial motions.īrothers testified Smollett orchestrated attack He left the courthouse without answering questions. Soon after, he walked over and hugged his mother for a long time. “But we remain confident that we’re gonna come back and he’s going to be vindicated.”Īs jurors were cleared and court began to empty out, Jurnee Smollett, the former “Empire” actor’s sister, was the first to embrace him. “It’s pretty disappointing, what happened,” he told reporters at the courthouse. He was acquitted of making of a false report to another Chicago detective weeks after the alleged attack.ĭefense attorney Nenye Uche called the verdict inconsistent, saying the jury cannot find Smollett lied in five instances but did not in the sixth. Smollett was found guilty of disorderly conduct for making false reports to Chicago police officer Muhammad Baig and Detective Kimberly Murray on the day of the incident.
#LIBERAL CRIME SQUAD PICK UP LINES TRIAL#
Webb said he couldn’t predict whether follow-up perjury charges would be filed against Smollett for his trial testimony but said people who are convicted of a crime are not normally charged with perjury. “The fact that he came up with a completely ridiculous story to explain his misconduct did not apparently have an impact on the jury’s verdict.” Smollett would not have lost this case as he did today unless the jury found that he lied to them,” he said. Special prosecutor Dan Webb said at a news conference that he was proud of the jury. Cook County Judge James Linn will have discretion in imposing a concurrent or consecutive sentence for each count at a later date.
He didn’t look at his family or the judge, instead focusing in the direction of the jury.Ī disorderly conduct charge for a false crime report is a Class 4 felony and punishable by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine. His fingers were interlaced and his hands were on the table. He did not move and was seen gazing straight ahead. Smollett, dressed in a suit and tie, appeared rigid after the verdict was read in court late in the afternoon.
0 kommentar(er)
