The jury deciding the fate of former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett began its deliberations Wednesday afternoon after hearing closing arguments from the defense and state prosecutors.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, “Smollett is facing six felony charges of disorderly conduct for filing false police reports. The charges carry a potential jail sentence of up to three years. Smollett is expected to escape lockup if found guilty, however. Because nobody was physically hurt by his alleged crime and his lack of a criminal history, experts expect that Smollett would receive probation and community service if found guilty.”
Smollett has been accused of hiring two African brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to stage a hate crime against him back in 2019.
“We have proven [that he is guilty] by overwhelming evidence,” Special Prosecutor Dan Webb said Wednesday afternoon. He added that the entire ordeal was “just plain wrong.”
“To outright denigrate something as serious, as heinous, as a real hate crime — to denigrate it and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such horrible historical significance in the history our country,” Webb added.
“He was hoping the Osundairo brothers would not cooperate with the police,” Webb said. “He got exposed, and now we’re in a trial. That’s what happened.”
The case has captivated America as the Hollywood actor has defended himself against accusations from nearly three years ago that he staged a fake crime early in the morning on a cold January night. He claimed that he was beaten down by thugs calling him the n-word and yelling homophobic slurs while saying this is “MAGA country.”
Smollett had previously told media he believed he was attacked because he “came at [President Trump] really hard.” He has maintained he really was attacked that night, despite the doubts of many.
As reported by CNN, “He was initially indicted on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct in March 2019, but the charges were dropped weeks later. After a special prosecutor was appointed to look into the case, a grand jury indicted Smollett on new charges in February 2020.”
Fox News’s Matt Finn reports that a verdict today could be possible, tweeting that The judge in the case “kept the jury as late as 8pm during trial, so a verdict today is not out of realm of possibility.”
Smollett trial — closing arguments done. Jury getting instructions. Judge Linn kept the jury as late as 8pm during trial, so a verdict today is not out of realm of possibility.
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) December 8, 2021