Attorneys for Jussie Smollett are planning an appeal after the former “Empire” star was found guilty of staging and reporting a hate crime.
Nenye Uche, who led the defense team in Smollett’s crime, says that his client is “100% innocent.”
“He’s going to be cleared of all, all accusations on all charges. The verdict is inconsistent,” he confidently told reporters. “You can’t say Jussie is lying and say Jussie is not lying for the same exact incident.”
Uche added: “We are confident in our appellate system,” Uche said. “We are confident in our Illinois Supreme Court, and we’re confident that at the end of the day, what’s out there in the news media and in the gossip forums are not going to stand a chance in court.”
Smollett was found guilty on Thursday of falsely reporting to the police that he had been the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in 2019. In court, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo testified that the actor had paid them to assault him in January 2019.
Smollett told police that he was on his way to a local Subway at 2 am to purchase a sandwich when two men attacked him, tied a noose around his neck and hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him. A grand jury indicted Smollett in February of 2020.
Smollett now has the opportunity to appeal. He is facing a considerable spell behind bars. A disorderly conduct charge for a false crime report is a Class 4 felony— punishable by up to three years in prison. It also comes with a $25,000 fine.
“This jury worked so hard,” prosecutor Dan K. Webb said outside the courthouse following the convictions, “and for Mr. Smollett to come up before them and lie for hours and hours and hours — that really compounded his misconduct.”
