Jussie Smollett

Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to 16 count indictment

via:usatoday

Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor accused by Chicago police of staging a fake hate crime for personal profit, pleaded not guilty on Thursday at his arraignment on a 16-count indictment of lying to police. He has denied the charges.

Prior to the arraignment, Judge Steven G. Watkins was assigned to oversee Smollett’s case. Watkins made a small change to the terms of Smollett’s bond, saying he will allow Smollett to travel Los Angeles and New York to meet with attorneys without first formally seeking court approval.

Smollett’s next court date was set for April 17.

The actor’s legal team said Tuesday that they wanted cameras in the courtroom so the public could see the evidence. Celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos, who joined Smollett’s Chicago-based legal team  in late February, argued that the worldwide media coverage has robbed Smollett of the presumption of innocence. He said he was not surprised by the indictment.

He turned himself early the next day, was arrested and briefly jailed, before being released on $100,000 bond.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson alleged Smollett paid the Osundairo brothers $3,500 to stage an attack on him in order to raise his profile and his TV salary.

Johnson angrily assailed Smollett for allegedly smearing Chicago, telling reporters that the actor staged the attack to look like a hate crime in order to “take advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.”

“I am left hanging my head asking ‘why?’ Why would anyone – especially an African-American man – use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations,” Johnson told reporters. “Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim who is in need of support by police and investigators as well as the citizens of this city … I’m offended by what happened and I am also angry.”

On March 8, a county grand jury deepened his legal woes by indicting him on 16 counts of disorderly conduct stemming from the alleged false police report. According to the indictment, the grand jury charged Smollett for every time he allegedly uttered a falsehood to police investigators about what he said happened to him on Jan. 29.

Each count carries a potential sentence of one to three years in prison.

The Chicago-bred Osundairo brothers, who were released without charges and who have said through their lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, that they regret their role in the case, will likely be among the chief witnesses against Smollett if he goes to trial.

But in media interviews Monday, Schmidt declined to explain why Smollett allegedly asked the Osundairos to stage the attack or why they chose to remain in police detention for nearly 48 hours before telling investigators their story.

But she did confirm several other details: the brothers were friends and workout buddies with Smollett, he paid them for personal training services, they have – and are still – “fully” cooperating with police and did not seek a plea deal for their testimony.

Schmidt painted the brothers as hapless innocents who were duped by Smollett.

“This entire thing started because they put their trust in the wrong person, someone who works with them, someone who could help their careers, and then he betrays them,” she told “CBS This Morning.” “They felt their friend would not put hem in a situation where they are now labeled as someone who would commit a hate crime. They did not know that their loyalty to him would be betrayed.”

She said the Osundairo brothers have a $3,500 check Smollett gave them. Though it was officially earmarked as payment for personal training services, it was also tacitly intended as an enticement to do him the “favor” of staging the attack.

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