{"id":1067909,"date":"2021-11-30T10:13:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T15:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1067909"},"modified":"2021-11-30T10:13:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T15:13:40","slug":"jussie-smollett-lawyer-claims-disgraced-actor-is-a-real-victim-of-hate-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jussie-smollett-lawyer-claims-disgraced-actor-is-a-real-victim-of-hate-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Jussie Smollett Lawyer Claims Disgraced Actor &#039;Is a Real Victim&#039; of Hate Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjussie-smollett-lawyer-claims-disgraced-actor-is-a-real-victim-of-hate-crime%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1067909&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Jussie Smollett \u201cis a real victim\u201d of a \u201creal crime,\u201d his attorney said as the ex-\u201cEmpire\u201d actor\u2019s trial started Monday, rejecting prosecutors\u2019 allegation that he staged <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/entertainment-ap-top-news-us-news-tv-chicago-5979b83326c045f59a8823294c38e9c7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">a homophobic and racist attack <\/a>in Chicago after the television studio where he worked didn\u2019t take hate mail he had received seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorney Nenye Uche said two brothers attacked Smollett in January 2019 because they didn\u2019t like him and that <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-north-america-us-news-ap-top-news-college-football-656df396b0284006b6ca9c18ca7b3fa2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">a $3,500 check <\/a>the actor paid the men was for training so he could prepare for an upcoming music video \u2014 not as payment for staging a hate crime, as prosecutors allege. Uche also suggested a third attacker was involved and told jurors there is not a \u201cshred \u201c of physical and forensic evidence linking Smollett to the crime prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cJussie Smollett is a real victim,\u201d Uche said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18944538\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" readability=\"33\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AP21068808685443.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18944538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AP21068808685443.jpg\" alt width=\"1920\" height=\"1317\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>(AP Photo\/Paul Beaty, File)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Uche made his opening statement after special prosecutor Dan Webb told jurors that the actor recruited the brothers to help him carry out a fake attack, then reported it to Chicago police, who classified it as a hate crime and spent 3,000 staff hours on the investigation. Smollett told police he was attacked by supporters of then-President Donald Trump \u2014 igniting political divisions around the country.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhen he reported the fake hate crime that was a real crime,\u201d said Webb, who was named as special prosecutor after Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Kim Foxx\u2019s office dropped the original charges filed against Smollett. A <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/entertainment-chicago-illinois-statutes-jussie-smollett-d5f6081f7755b841a878952889d29feb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">new indictment<\/a> was returned in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett, who arrived at the courthouse in Chicago Monday with his mother and other family members, is charged with felony disorderly conduct. The class 4 felony carries a prison sentence of up to three years, but experts have said it is likely that if Smollett is convicted he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.<\/p>\n<p>Webb told jurors Smollett was unhappy about how the studio handled a letter he received that included a drawing of a stick figure hanging from a tree and \u201cMAGA,\u201d a reference to Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again campaign slogan. Webb said police have not determined who wrote that letter.<\/p>\n<p>However, Uche countered that Smollett had turned down extra security when the studio offered it.<\/p>\n<p>Webb said Smollett then \u201cdevised this fake crime,\u201d holding a \u201cdress rehearsal\u201d with the two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, including telling them to shout racial and homophobic slurs and \u201cMAGA.\u201d Smollett also told the brothers \u2014 who worked on the \u201cEmpire\u201d set \u2014 to buy ski masks, red hats and \u201ca rope to make it look like a hate crime,\u201d Webb told jurors. The brothers used a $100 bill that Smollett gave them to buy the supplies, Webb said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>He said Smollett wanted the attack captured on surveillance video, but the camera he thought would record the hoax was pointed in the wrong direction. He also said the original plan called for the men to throw gasoline on Smollett but that they opted for bleach instead because it would be safer.<\/p>\n<p>Whether Smollett, who is Black and gay, will testify remains an open question. But the siblings will take the witness stand.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Uche portrayed the brothers as unreliable, saying their story has changed while Smollett\u2019s has not, and that when police searched their home they found heroin and guns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are going to lie to your face,\u201d Uche told the jury.<\/p>\n<p>Uche also said evidence \u201cwill show a tremendous rush to judgment by various police officials,\u201d and he said prosecutors\u2019 claim about paying for a fake attack by check doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day they want you to believe Jussie was stupid enough to pay for a hoax with a check but was smart enough to pay (for supplies) with a $100 bill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10151826\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/osundairo-cctv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10151826\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/osundairo-cctv.jpg\" alt width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>@team_abel, WBBM<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As for Uche\u2019s suggestion that another attacker may have been involved, buried in nearly 500 pages of Chicago Police Department reports is a statement from an area resident who says she saw a white man with \u201creddish brown hair\u201d who appeared to be waiting for someone that night. She told a detective that when the man turned away from her, she \u201ccould see hanging out from underneath his jacket what appeared to be a rope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her comments could back up Smollett\u2019s contention that his attackers draped a makeshift noose around his neck. Further, if she testified that the man was white, it would support Smollett\u2019s statements \u2014 widely ridiculed because the brothers, who come from Nigeria, are Black \u2014 that he saw pale or white skin around the eyes of one of his masked attackers.<\/p>\n<p>Twelve jurors plus two alternates were sworn in late Monday for a trial that Judge James Linn said he expects to take about one week. Cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom and the proceedings are not being livestreamed, unlike in other recent high-profile trials.<\/p>\n<p>Jurors may see <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-north-america-ap-top-news-business-wire-technology-ca-state-wire-ca0fabcc072d4fc4881237772ef25176\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">surveillance video from more than four dozen cameras<\/a> that police reviewed to trace the brothers\u2019 movements before and after the reported attack, as well as a video showing the brothers purchasing supplies hours earlier. Webb told jurors prosecutors have hundreds of hours of video, and a still shot from a camera near Smollett\u2019s condo that shows him walking up stairs after the alleged attack, with a clothesline around his neck and still carrying a sandwich he bought that evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Jussie Smollett \u201cis a real victim\u201d of a \u201creal crime,\u201d his attorney said as the ex-\u201cEmpire\u201d actor\u2019s trial started Monday, rejecting prosecutors\u2019 allegation that he staged a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1067909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1067909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1067909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1067909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1067909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}