Flanked by family members, supporters, attorneys and bodyguards, former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett walks into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
“Mr. Smollett went on that witness stand, took and oath to tell the truth, and made many, many false statements to you,” Special Prosecutor Dan Webb said in his closing statements. “He lied to you as jurors.”
Jussie Smollett’s fate will soon be handed over to a Cook County jury tasked with determining whether the “Empire” actor lied to Chicago police when he said he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack nearly three years ago.
Special prosecutors began their closing arguments in the trial about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, asking jurors to find Smollett guilty of the six counts of disorderly conduct he faces for the six times he allegedly gave a false statement to police.
For two hours, Special Prosecutor Dan Webb slowly walked the jury back through the seven days of testimony, highlighting what he said was “overwhelming evidence” that proved Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and then lied to police about it.
The actor refused to hand over evidence to help solve the crime, because “Smollett didn’t want the crime solved,” Webb said.
If Smollett turned his cellphone over to police, investigators would have been quickly led to the two brothers who were initially arrested and if police got his medical records, investigators would have known he only suffered minor injuries, Webb said.
Webb also worked to impugn Smollett’s eight hours of testimony earlier this week, saying the actor’s explanations were so unbelievable, they “lacked any credibility whatsoever.”
“Mr. Smollett went on that witness stand, took and oath to tell the truth, and made many, many false statements to you,” the special prosecutor said. “He lied to you as jurors.”
Webb questioned how Smollett expected jurors to believe that Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo would know exactly where and when Smollett would be leaving his home on the frigid January 2019 morning when he said he was allegedly attacked.
“How would the brothers ever know where Smollett was going to be right at 2 a.m.?” Webb said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
The Special prosecutors’ case relied heavily on the testimony of the Osundairos, who claimed the actor recruited them to “fake beat him up.”
But Webb said, the brothers’ interviews with police could also be backed up by evidence uncovered by investigators who looked at 1,500 hours of surveillance video and GPS cellphone records.
Police “busted their buns” to solve the crime Smollett claimed he was a victim of, Webb said.
Webb last week said it was “just plain wrong that Mr. Smollett, as a successful Black actor, openly gay person, would denigrate something as serious as a hate crime and then just pretend one occurred when it didn’t occur.”
Defense attorneys countered in their opening statements last week that police rushed to judgment, believing the Osundairos over Smollett.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Former federal prosecutor Dan Webb, who was appointed special prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case, walks into the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday.
Word that the popular actor had been beaten by two men as he walked home from a sandwich shop in the freezing cold on Jan. 29, 2019, quickly made international headlines.
That his alleged attackers had yelled racist and anti-gay slurs at him, doused him in bleach and hung a thin rope noose around his neck in the attack — while supposedly wearing a red hat and shouting President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan — elevated the crime to “an attempted modern-day lynching” as Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter shortly after the news broke.
But rumors that the case was not what it first appeared to be cast a shadow on the actor soon after.
The legal stakes for Smollett are fairly low. The actor would likely be sentenced to probation if he’s found guilty due to his lack of a criminal background. But the damage in the court of public opinion could be a life sentence for Smollett’s career.
After he was charged, Smollett was written off the hit television drama and his attempt to branch out into music with the release of his first album stalled.
Even if he is acquitted, the road back to stardom for the actor would seem exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.
The allegations that Smollett faked the attack for publicity “made him a pariah,” lead defense attorney Nenye Uche acknowledged at the beginning of the trial.
Still, a not guilty verdict would at least give the actor a shallow hold to cling to if he tried to rebuild his career.
Smollett testified that he was riding high in the winter of 2019 and about to film an episode of “Empire” in which his character, Jamal Lyon, was to marry another man — the first gay Black male marriage on network TV. Smollett’s music career was blossoming, and his “Empire” salary had nearly tripled from the first season.
Smollett testified that he didn’t want to call police after the attack, fearing that if it became public that he’d been beaten up, it would hurt his chances of scoring traditionally masculine acting roles. The publicity that came after the assault became news — hoax or not– boosted his profile, and the fallout after police charged him for allegedly staging the hate crime quickly killed his career.
“Since this incident happened have you gotten and secured significant roles in Hollywood or in TV or commercials?” Uche asked Smollett.
“No,” the actor said flatly.
“Did you gain anything?” Uche asked.
“I’ve lost my livelihood,” Smollett said.
