The trial of Jussie Smollett, the former “Empire” actor who allegedly staged a fake hate crime against himself, is underway, and the evidence appears to be seriously stacked against him.
The reader will likely remember that this trial stems from an incident that occurred back in January of 2019. Smollett claimed to police that he was the victim of a homophobic and racist attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
This, however, appears to be far from the truth of the matter.
New evidence
After the jury was sworn in, earlier this week, the prosecution presented its opening argument. And, in this argument, the prosecution gave a preview of the evidence they have that Smollett staged the whole incident.
One key piece of evidence that was not previously reported is that Smollett appears to have done a “dry run” of the attack. Apparently he and his “attackers,” were caught on surveillance camera the day before the incident.
The prosecution also revealed Smollett’s apparent motivation for staging this fake hate crime, namely, a threatening hate letter that was sent to a studio located behind “Empire.” According to the prosecution, Smollett was upset that this letter wasn’t taken seriously enough.
Star witness testimony
Something that we already knew was that Smollett had paid brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo to commit the fake attack. This week, the two brothers relayed the specifics of the agreement in their testimony.
According to the two brothers, Smollett paid them $3,500 to attack him, and he gave them a $100 bill for supplies. These supplies included gasoline, which was switched to bleach, and rope.
The brothers testified that Smollett wanted them to pour gasoline on him and put a noose around his neck. He also asked them to make it look like a struggle from which he fought back.
The brothers said that Smollett wanted to use the attack to get social media recognition, rather than turning it into any kind of criminal matter.
Looking ahead
Legal experts do believe that the prosecution has a very strong case against Smollett. Smollett stands accused of six counts of felony disorderly conduct for making several false police reports about the attack.
If found guilty, Smollett could face up to three years in prison. But, the experts believe that more like than not, if found guilty, he would just be placed on probation and ordered to do some community service.
The post The evidence against actor Jussie Smollett appears to be overwhelming first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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