(CNN) — Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett took the stand in his ongoing criminal trial Monday in a high-stakes attempt to rebut charges that he staged a fake hate crime and lied to Chicago Police about it in January 2019.
Smollett, 39, is charged with six counts of disorderly conduct, a charge punishable by up to three years in prison. His testimony comes a week after the prosecution concisely laid out its case against Smollett, saying he paid two acquaintances to carry out a sham anti-gay and racist attack in order to garner sympathetic media coverage.
In general, testifying in one’s own defense is a high-risk move because the prosecution is allowed to closely cross-examine the defendant.
In recent weeks, two defendants in high-profile homicide trials have taken the stand to mixed results. Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, testified in his own defense, and a jury ultimately acquitted him of all charges. Yet in Georgia, a jury convicted Travis McMichael of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s death after he took the stand.
Smollett’s case involves far less serious charges, and is untied to civilians using lethal weapons. Last week, five police investigators testified that Smollett, who is Black and gay, told them two men had attacked him in the street, yelled racist, anti-gay and pro-Trump remarks, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him.
However, those two men — brothers “Bola” and “Ola” Osundairo — were determined to be Smollett’s acquaintances from the “Empire” TV show. They testified that Smollett had actually directed them and paid them to stage a fake hate crime in an attempt to get sympathetic media coverage and further his acting career.
“Who was in charge of this thing?” Special Prosecutor Daniel Webb asked.
“Jussie was,” Bola Osundairo told the jury.
The actor has denied orchestrating the attack and he has pleaded not guilty.
Smollett’s defense has argued he was a real victim of a hate crime and on Thursday called three witnesses of its own, including Smollett’s former music manager and publicist. Overall, his defense has largely relied on inflammatory questioning of witnesses and outbursts that have led to several heated exchanges with Judge James Linn.
During cross-examination of Bola Osundairo, for example, defense attorney Shay Allen asked if he had a sexual relationship with Smollett, which he denied. And in cross-examination of Ola Osundairo, after Judge Linn directed the defense to move on from a particular line of questioning, defense attorney Tamara Walker asked for a mistrial, sobbed in court and then said the judge had “lunged” at her during a sidebar conversation.
Judge Linn denied the accusation and denied the motion for a mistrial, saying he was stunned by the request.
“Ms. Walker, there were objections that had to be sustained and I was trying to get back on point,” the judge said. “Just because you think you were allowed to go one way, we’re all just doing our jobs.”
A disorderly conduct charge for a false crime report is a Class 4 felony in Illinois, punishable by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
How we got here
The trial is the culmination of a case that began in January 2019 when Smollett told police he had been attacked. Celebrities, politicians and advocacy groups rallied behind the actor, and police poured significant resources into solving the case and locating the two men.
But after interviewing the Osundairo brothers and finding other evidence, authorities instead determined that Smollett paid them $3,500 to stage the hate crime against him so he could get publicity and a career boost.
Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct by a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury in March 2019, but Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office decided to drop those charges weeks later. The decision angered the mayor and police and sparked questions as to whether Smollett had received preferential treatment.
A special prosecutor then took over the case, and a grand jury indicted Smollett on new charges in February 2020.
The incident effectively ended Smollett’s acting career. His character was written off “Empire,” which ended in 2020, and though he has since directed and produced a film, he has not appeared on screen again.
The-CNN-Wire
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