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Jussie Smollett took the stand in his own defense, but legal experts are calling it “bizarre” and “an unparalleled disaster.”
High-powered attorney James White, who weighed in on the Smollett case, said the actor’s testimony not only hurt his case but also helped make the prosecution’s case against him.
The radical left-wing political activist and actor is accused by Chicago prosecutors of staging a fake hate crime against himself.
Smollett allegedly used the assistance of his friends, brothers Abimbola and Olabingo Osundairo, who allegedly paid them $3,500 to carry out the hoax. Smollett says it’s “100 false” despite what the Osundairo brothers have already testified.
Smollett, who has strong ties to Democrats, currently faces felony charges and faces up to three years in prison.
“There was no hoax,” Smollett said on the stand in a Chicago court Monday.
During the questioning, the prosecution uncovered details about Smollett’s relationship with the alleged attacker.
Smollett says he met Abimbola Osundairo in 2017 at a club. They were also working together on the show Empire at the time.
Smollett explained that they did cocaine together and then went to Steamworks, a popular gay bathhouse where they made out.
On another meeting, Smollett said they continued to do more drugs together and also masturbated together.
Osundairo denied that they were sexually involved. When asked if he regretted the drug use, Smollett said, “Of course,” adding “I’m sitting here in front of a jury, in front of my mom, having to explain it.”
Former U.S. attorney Neama Rahmani said, “Smollett testifying in his own defense is one of two things, or maybe both: a narcissistic criminal defendant who is doubling down on his charged lies to law enforcement or defense attorneys who know they are way behind and are throwing a low probability Hail Mary to try to get their client off.”
“Either way, Smollett’s story was a bizarre attempt at forcing a square peg into a round hole by offering every possible explanation for the state’s digital evidence except the most obvious one: that he is guilty.”
Smollett, who has strong ties to Democrats, currently faces felony charges and faces up to three years in prison.
“We are with you, Jussie,” then-candidate Joe Biden told Smollett leading up to the 2020 presidential elections.
“Homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts,” Biden added.
Kamala Harris, the Obama’s, Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats have also publicly supported Smollett.
The 39-year-old actor is accused of lying to police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in Chicago, which never actually occurred.
He allegedly faked a hate crime back in order to politically attack Republicans and Trump supporters. He is charged with 6 counts of felony disorderly conduct.
Smollett went to the Chicago police in January 2019 and falsely alleged he had been assaulted by two people he described as white men who wearing MAGA hats. This class 4 felony carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.
“[The prosectution] has a really strong case,” legal expert and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Fox News.
The detailed evidence “includes phone records and texts between Smollett and his alleged hired attackers,” the report adds. Smollet told police that his attackers shouted racial and homophobic slurs and poured an unknown chemical substance on him, which was possibly bleach.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Smollet also claimed they tied a noose around his neck.The only problem is that police discovered that Smollett paid his attackers $3,500 in order to carry out the fake hoax.
In February 2019, Chicago police raided the home of the two alleged attackers. They had actually worked with Smollett as extras on his television show’s set.
The two alleged attackers, identified Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, are African American and not white, as Smollett claimed. They had purchased the rope found around Smollett’s neck at a hardware store in Ravenswood over the weekend of January 25.
