Jussie Smollett has been found guilty of disorderly conduct by a jury for arranging his assault. The actor and singer, best known for his starring role on Empire, has been the subject of multiple reports since his January 2019 attack, where he claimed to have been a victim of a homophobic and racial hate crime. Smollett was assaulted by two men who poured bleach and tied a noose around his neck while shouting offensive slurs towards him. The incident led many industry and political figures to express their support for Smollett and outrage over the attack.

It was later discovered after an investigation by the Chicago Police Department that Smollett fabricated the hate crime and was charged on sixteen counts of filing false reports as well as sued by the city for the costs of damages during the investigation that totaled over $130,000. While Smollett was acquitted back in 2019 with all the charges dropped, he was once again indicted in February 2020 on six counts of disorderly conduct after a revisit of the case by a special prosecutor. Due to the pandemic, his trial has been delayed multiple times until last week, and the jury has now reached a verdict on the case.

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Now People has reported that Smollett is guilty of five of the six counts and will be convicted for orchestrating his own hate crime and lying to the authorities. All five counts relate to false statements Smollett made to the police the day of his attack, while the sixth count, which he was acquitted for, pertained to a police interview that was conducted two weeks after the incident. The deliberations lasted for about nine hours before the announcement of the result. Smollett will be awaiting sentencing and is currently free on bond.

The trial was reported to have featured overwhelming evidence against Smollett, including confirmation that he may have created the hoax for media attention and the hopes of expanding and furthering his career, while also paying $3,500 to two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to assault him. Both of the brothers were extras on Empire, and Abimbola Osundairo made a testimony supporting the claims of the prosecution, detailing that Smollett told him specifics of carrying out the attack, including saying the racial and homophobic slurs and “pull the punch so I don’t hurt him, give him a bruise.”

While Smollett’s attorneys plan to appeal the verdict, the damage has long been done for Smollett. He was fired from Empire shortly after the investigation back in 2019 and has not been in any projects since. While Smollett testified during the trial and continued to defend his innocence, he admitted that he has “lost his livelihood.” The charges that he has been found guilty of range from three years in prison to probation. It will be known in a matter of time what the sentence will be for Jussie Smollett.

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Source: People

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Christopher Tsang
(248 Articles Published)

Chris is a feature news writer for ScreenRant who joined the team in 2020. A graduate of NYU Tisch program, Chris has been passionate about films and television and enjoys a range of content, especially ones with great writing. Chris also likes to watch award shows and predict the winners with his recent success predicting Anthony Hopkins to win for The Father at the Oscars.

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