{"id":590913,"date":"2021-07-14T12:50:58","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T16:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=590913"},"modified":"2021-07-14T12:51:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T16:51:02","slug":"jussie-smollett-returns-to-court-in-chicago-on-renewed-charges-of-lying-to-police-calls-proceedings-a-dog-and-pony-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jussie-smollett-returns-to-court-in-chicago-on-renewed-charges-of-lying-to-police-calls-proceedings-a-dog-and-pony-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Jussie Smollett Returns To Court In Chicago On Renewed Charges Of Lying To Police, Calls Proceedings A \u2018Dog And Pony Show\u2019"},"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\">42<\/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-returns-to-court-in-chicago-on-renewed-charges-of-lying-to-police-calls-proceedings-a-dog-and-pony-show%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=590913&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--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1138445246-scaled-1.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Former \u201cEmpire\u201d actor Jussie Smollett returned to court in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday, on renewed charges that he lied to Chicago police about an alleged racist and homophobic attack Smollett said happened outside of his apartment back in January of 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett assailed the process on his way into a Chicago courtroom, maintaining his innocence and calling the morning\u2019s proceedings \u2014 where a judge will hear arguments over a potential conflict of interest with Smollett\u2019s attorney \u2014 a \u201cdog and pony show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">\u201cSmollett told Fox News that he is innocent while entering the court, referring to the proceedings he was about to participate in as a \u2018dog and pony show,&#8217;\u201d the network reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett is facing six counts of \u201cfelony misconduct\u201d for allegedly lying to Chicago police in two interviews conducted after Smollett reported being the victim of a racist and homophobic early morning attack outside of his Chicago apartment in the city\u2019s tony Streeterville neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Smollett reportedly told police that he was accosted by two men wearing what appeared to be \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hats. Smollett said the men physically assaulted him, called him racial and homophobic slurs, then threw a \u201cnoose\u201d around his neck, doused him with an unknown chemical believed to be bleach, and fled, yelling that Chicago was \u201cMAGA country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a second interview, Smollett identified the men as white.<\/p>\n<p>Further investigation by the Chicago police department turned up evidence that Smollett may have been complicit in the alleged crime, having reportedly coordinated with the Osundairo brothers \u2014 twin brothers he met on the set of \u201cEmpire\u201d and who worked as personal trainers in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett was eventually charged with 16 counts of lying to police, but those charges were dropped after he inked an unofficial \u201cplea bargain\u201d with the Cook County States Attorney\u2019s office, which involved Smollett doing around a dozen hours of community service for Jesse Jackson\u2019s Rainbow PUSH Coalition and forfeiting a $10,000 bond check.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cplea bargain\u201d left Chicago officials incensed. A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate whether Smollett received preferential treatment from the States Attorney\u2019s office, and city officials \u2014 including then-mayor Rahm Emanuel \u2014 sent a bill to Smollett demanding he repay the city for police\u2019s overtime spent investigating the case, a sum of about $150,000.<\/p>\n<p>The special prosecutor eventually renewed six of the sixteen charges against Smollett and the case is finally proceeding to trial, following a host of delays, COVID-19 delays included.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Smollett was in court for a hearing&nbsp;about one of his \u201cwould-be attorneys, Nenye Uche,\u201d according <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/criminal-justice\/ct-jussie-smollett-lawyer-evidentiary-hearing-20210714-cwg5obmel5dofg7jb3umevehkm-story.html\">to the Chicago Tribune<\/a>. Uche \u201chas a conflict of interest that could disqualify him from representing the actor in his hot-button criminal case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Tribune noted that after Uche \u201csigned on to represent Smollett earlier this year, the Osundairo brothers alleged that he spoke with them about representing them early in the process, and had substantive conversations about the case. If true, that could mean Uche has a conflict of interest barring him from representing Smollett.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Osundairo brothers are expected to be a significant part of the prosecution\u2019s case against Smollett, as they told police officers that they coordinated with Smollett to plan the alleged attack.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former \u201cEmpire\u201d actor Jussie Smollett returned to court in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday, on renewed charges that he lied to Chicago police about an alleged racist and homophobic attack Smollett &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2314668,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1138445246-scaled-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Jussie Smollett Returns To Court In Chicago On Renewed Charges Of Lying To Police, Calls Proceedings A \u2018Dog And Pony Show\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-590913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1138445246-scaled-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Jussie Smollett Returns To Court In Chicago On Renewed Charges Of Lying To Police, Calls Proceedings A \u2018Dog And Pony Show\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590913","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}