Jussie Smollett Set To Be Sentenced For Hate Crime Hoax

Jussie Smollett appears to be in hot water. The legal saga surrounding Jussie Smollett’s claim in 2019 that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago will conclude Thursday with his sentencing.

The saga of Jussie Smollett’s hate hoax is coming to an end. The disgraced actor will be sentenced Thursday at Chicago’s George N. Leighton criminal courthouse, three months after a jury found him guilty of lying to police after an eight-day trial in December.

Smollett, who was convicted on five counts of felony disorderly conduct and acquitted on a sixth, faces up to three years in prison, but his sentence will be determined by Judge James Linn. Legal experts believe Smollett will avoid prison because of his mostly clean criminal record and the non-violent nature of the charges, which are low-level, Class 4 felonies.

During his trial, however, Smollett took the stand and repeatedly and vehemently maintained his innocence, becoming defensive when challenged. It’s a decision that could come back to haunt him as Linn considers whether to give Smollett a conditional discharge, community service, probation, or time in jail.

After filing a Hail Mary motion on February 25 alleging a series of errors and constitutional violations, attorneys for the former “Empire” star are hoping Linn will agree to overturn his conviction or at the very least grant him a new trial. The 83-page filing claims that prosecutors wrongfully dismissed black and gay jurors and that the court violated Smollett’s right to a fair trial by limiting the number of spectators allowed in the courtroom.

Smollett’s attorneys argued in the motion that the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and thus the charges should be dropped or a new trial ordered. It was a request made by the legal team during the trial after prosecutors rested their case, but Linn refused, saying there was “ample evidence” to proceed.

Linn will rule on the motion before sentencing, but even if it is denied, Smollett’s attorney, Nenye Uche, plans to appeal the conviction and is “100% certain” it will be overturned. The sentence comes more than three years after Smollett told police that two Trump-supporting bigots doused him in bleach, beat him up, and tied a noose around his neck on a street corner near his Streeterville apartment during a polar vortex.

According to NY Post, Prosecutors claimed Smollett concocted the scheme with the assistance of two brothers — Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo — in a misguided attempt to raise his public profile. The attack was real, according to the defense, and was carried out by the brothers because they are homophobic. On the stand, the actor denied there was a hoax and insisted that the assault occurred and that he was a victim.

In the absence of hard evidence, jurors had to decide who’s story they believed more, and after about nine hours of deliberation, they concluded that Smollett’s story didn’t add up. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

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