Uche also said evidence “will show a tremendous rush to judgment by various police officials,” and he said prosecutors’ claim about paying for a fake attack by check doesn’t make sense. “They are going to lie to your face,” Uche told the jury. Uche portrayed the brothers as unreliable, saying their story has changed while Smollett’s has not, and that when police searched their home they found heroin and guns. But the siblings will take the witness stand. Whether Smollett, who is Black and gay, will testify remains an open question. 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. 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.
The brothers used a $100 bill that Smollett gave them to buy the supplies, Webb said. Webb said Smollett then “devised this fake crime,” holding a “dress rehearsal” with the two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, including telling them to shout racial and homophobic slurs and “MAGA.” Smollett also told the brothers - who worked on the “Empire” set - to buy ski masks, red hats and “a rope to make it look like a hate crime,” Webb told jurors. However, Uche countered that Smollett had turned down extra security when the studio offered it. Webb said police have not determined who wrote that letter. 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 “MAGA,” a reference to Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign slogan. 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.
Smollett, who arrived at the courthouse in Chicago Monday with his mother and other family members, is charged with felony disorderly conduct. “When he reported the fake hate crime that was a real crime,” said Webb, who was named as special prosecutor after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped the original charges filed against Smollett. Smollett told police he was attacked by supporters of then-President Donald Trump - igniting political divisions around the country. 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. Lawyer: Jussie Smollett ‘a real victim’ of attack in Chicago – The Denver Post Close Menu
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