Jussie Smollett was branded a ‘serial liar’ who ‘without question’ orchestrated a hoax attack in January 29, 2019, by hiring his friend and apparent sometimes lover Abel Osundairo, and his brother Ola to beat him up in an effort to boost his career.
Special Prosecutor Dan Webb tore through Smollett as he addressed the jury, telling them the actor deliberately ‘tailored’ his testimony to avoid the truth and lied to them repeatedly under oath.
He asked the jury to use ‘common sense’ when reaching a verdict and said it had been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the brothers, who Smollett knew, carried out the attack, and that he was behind it.
‘Mr Smollett didn’t want the crime solved. He wanted the exposure.
‘He doesn’t want the police to catch on to the brothers.
‘There is no question that Mr. Smollett is the person who orchestrated it. Mr. Smollett went on that witness stand and made many, many false statements to you.
‘He lied under oath to you jurors in the course of this trial,’ Webb told the jury.
In his defense, Smollett’s attorney Nenye Uche told jurors to ignore the brothers’ testimony because they are ‘sophisticated liars’ and ‘criminals’.
He said not only did Smollett have no motive to lie, he had an ‘anti motive’.
He couldn’t offer an explanation for why they lied, but said they couldn’t be trusted and claimed the whole prosecution rests on them.
He also referred to Smollett as a ‘pothead’, but said he had ‘nothing to hide’ and criticized the brothers for answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ like ‘Robocop’.
He questioned why one of the brothers, Abel, took ‘so many bathroom breaks’ during his testimony and also told the jury that they had offered to change their story for $2million before the case went to trial.
Smollett has been charged with six counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police six times – each count carries a maximum of three years behind bars but it’s unclear if he will be given any form of jail time.
Closing arguments and the rebuttal ended shortly before 2.30pm local time. The judge is now instructing the jury before allowing them to leave the court to start deliberations.
It remains to be seen which way they will fall; the charges are six counts of disorderly conduct for lying.
To find Smollett guilty, they must say he knew it was all fake from the beginning. He maintains he was attacked – by someone, whether it was the brothers or not – and that when he gave his account to the police, he was telling the truth.
The 39-year-old actor was pictured arriving on Wednesday surrounded by his family, who have supported him throughout. His mother Janet is shown, left, and sister Jurnee is shown, right
Smollett has arrived with his family every day for the trial. They say they believe him, and that he is the victim of a racist police force that didn’t want to ever believe him
Smollett holds hands with his mother Janet on his way into the courtroom on Wednesday morning
Webb, for the prosecution, said there was no doubt from the evidence that Smollett lied.
‘He knew there was a substantial amount of evidence that showed he did exactly what the brothers said he did. And he knew there was surveillance and GPS evidence,’ he said, adding Smollett deliberately labeled his attackers as white because he knew it would make it a more convincing hate crime.
‘If I say it was whites, that makes it more real. It gives it more credibility (that it was a hate attack). I don’t think there can be any doubt in anyone’s mind who sat through this evidence that is was the Osundairo brothers, who are Black, who attacked him.’
Finishing his closing arguments, Webb told the jury: ‘When you decide this case as a jury you are allowed to use your common sense and intelligence.’
Webb called it ‘ridiculous’ to suggest that the brothers, who were identified through evidence as being those on the street of the night of the attack, were there for any other reason.
He also laughed off Smollett’s claims that he was out on the streets looking for eggs.
‘Either he had plans to be there with the brothers or he likes eggs,’ he said.
Webb also referred to a text Smollett sent Abel after his February 14 arrest, where Smollett said he ‘1000% supported him and knew he’d done nothing wrong.’
He said it was a deliberate attempt to manipulate him.
‘He wants the brothers to think “we can keep our mouths shut, Mr. Smollett is going to keep his mouth shut, and no one will ever know what happened,’ he said.
Webb also tore apart Smollett’s claim that on January 27, when he was filmed driving with the brothers, that they were going to workout.
‘That was a bunch of hooey,’ he said.
He called Smollett’s alleged lies ‘heinous’ and said it was ‘downright wrong’ to do what he is charged with. Smollett’s attorneys will give their closing arguments later and the judge has set no limit on how long each side has.
Smollett’s attorney admitted that he does not know why the brothers would have lied.
He hazarded some guesses, but told the jury the motive was irrelevant to Smollett.
‘Is it a thing where Ola has hatred towards Jussie because he’s gay and Bola, the younger brother, is trying to prove to his older brother “I’m not gay so I’m going to (attack Smollett)?” I don’t know.’
He then suggested Bola was only ‘pretending to be gay, masturbating with Jussie in a bathhouse’ but then said: ‘I really don’t know.’
The 39-year-old actor was pictured arriving on Wednesday surrounded by his family, who have supported him throughout.
He maintains his innocence and has offered different defenses throughout the trial; first, his attorneys said he was attacked by brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo because they ‘hated’ who he was and are homophobic.
Then they suggested that the pair wanted to scare him into thinking that he needed security, and that he’d hire them as his bodyguards.
The brothers say Smollett paid them $3500 to carry out the attack so that he’d get more attention, and that he never intended for the case to be reported to police much less become a national scandal.
The jury of five white men, five white women, one Hispanic woman and one black man will have to consider six counts of felony disorderly conduct.
All are class four felonies, the least serious, and carry a maximum sentence of three years behind bars each, but attorneys say they don’t think it’s likely Smollett – who has no criminal record – will spend ‘a day in jail.’
On Tuesday, he became agitated with special prosecutor Dan Webb for repeating the N word aloud while reading private Instagram messages that Smollett had sent Abel Osundairo while flying from New York City to Chicago in the hours before the attack.
Smollett was trying to manipulate the brothers with this text on February 14, sent to Abel after he was arrested, according to the prosecutor who said it was a warning to ‘keep your mouth shut’
He asked Webb not to use the word for the sake of ‘every African American’ in the courtroom. When Webb apologized, Smollett snapped: ‘Apology accepted but it’s been used a lot.’
He refused to acknowledge that it was Abel and Ola who attacked him on January 29, 2019, saying he doesn’t believe a word they say because they are ‘liars’, but he also admitted changing his description of his attackers from ‘white’ to ‘pale’ early on in the investigation because he thought it was ‘the responsible thing to do.’
Smollett repeatedly denied staging the attack and snarked at Webb during one line of questioning: ‘I don’t know. You’d have to ask someone who staged a hate crime.’
Smollett also claimed that in the days before the stunt, when prosecutors claimed he and the brothers were rehearsing the attack, they were actually getting together to smoke marijuana.
Abel is shown outside court after testifying against Smollett last week. Olabinjo Osundairo, who goes by Ola, was not as close to the star. They told DailyMail.com at the trial that they weren’t there out of malice or to seal his fate, but to tell the truth
A court sketch of Abimbola Osundairo, aka Abel Osundairo, the brother Jussie partied with, shows him testifying against Smollett last week
A court sketch of Jussie Smollett squaring off with prosecutor Dan Webb in court in Chicago on Tuesday as he took the stand for a second day
He maintains that he did think the pair were light skinned when they attacked him and that he couldn’t see them both properly.
He told the jury that he thinks they staged the attack on him to try to scare him into thinking he needed bodyguards, and to give them the job.
The brothers, who testified last week, told the jury Smollett hired them to fake the attack because he wanted to boost his celebrity profile.
On Tuesday, the actor insisted this was never the case and that he ‘hates’ attention.
He said on Monday that he would never have involved the police because he doesn’t trust them.
‘One, I am a Black man in America I do not trust police… I am also a well known figure and I’m openly gay.
‘I want to play a boxer, I want to play a superhero… the moment I got beat I become a f****t who got his ass whooped,’ he told the court on Monday when asked why he didn’t call the cops.
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