By Tamlyn Canham
Former ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett has been found guilty of staging a hate crime in January 2019.
He was convicted on five of six felony disorderly conduct charges for making a false report to police.
He faces up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine (R400,000). Lawyers have speculated that he could be placed on probation. He could also be ordered to carry out community service.
However, some say Jussie opened himself up to jail time when he decided to testify during the trial. The judge could consider his testimony when deciding on a suitable sentence.
The actor testified in court that “there was no hoax”. Jussie denied hiring brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to help him with the hoax.
He accused the brothers of having a personal vendetta against him. Jussie revealed that he knows both men.
The brothers told the court he gave them $100 to buy supplies for the attack and also gave them a check for $3,500. Jussie says he gave the check to Abimbola for nutritional advice.
He testified that he met Abimbola at a club in 2017. He then learned that the man was an extra on the ‘Empire’ set. Jussie claimed during his testimony that they did drugs together and had a sexual relationship.
Abimbola denied the claim.
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Jussie set to appeal conviction
Jussie made headlines in 2019 when he claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago.
He claimed the suspects tied a noose around his neck and shouted: “This is MAGA country!”
They alleged that they also used the “n****r” word and called him a “f****t”.
Jussie’s lawyers told the court that the Osundairo brothers told him to pay them each $1-million not to testify during the trial.
Following the judgement, his lawyers made it clear that they will be appealing the verdict.
“It’s pretty disappointing, what happened. But we remain confident that we’re gonna come back and he’s going to be vindicated,” CNN quoted his lawyer as saying outside of the courtroom.
Jussie was found not guilty of “making a false police report he was the victim of an aggravated battery to Det. Robert Graves”.
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