CHICAGO — Jurors have begun their second day of deliberations in the trial of Jussie Smollett, the former “Empire” actor accused of staging a hoax hate crime attack on himself and then lying to police about it.
The panel began their discussions about 2:45 p.m. Wednesday after lengthy closing arguments. By 5 p.m., they had not reached a verdict, so Judge James Linn sent them home for the day.
They arrived this morning after 9 a.m., according to court personnel.
The early dismissal on day one was somewhat unusual for Linn, who is known for letting jurors deliberate long into the night. But one juror had a family obligation Wednesday evening, and could not stay past 5:15 p.m., Linn said in court.
Smollett, 39, faces six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly giving false information to Chicago police about the alleged racial and homophobic attack on a frigid night in January 2019.
The jury heard closing arguments earlier Wednesday.
The jury first heard from special prosecutor Dan Webb, who said Smollett not only committed a crime by falsely reporting a hate crime, what he did was “just plain wrong” to denigrate something as serious as a hate crime.
Webb said it was particularly egregious for Smollett to make sure his plan “had words and symbols” emblematic of this country’s racist past — including a noose and the use of the N-word.
When Smollett’s attorney Nenye Uche addressed the panel, he said the prosecution’s case was riddled with “doubts” and built on the testimony of two brothers who are criminals and “certified liars.”
Uche also questioned why Smollett would instruct his attackers to wear pro-Trump hats and yell slogans like, “This is MAGA country!”
“He’s dumb enough to go into Obama’s city and pretend there’s Trump supporters running around with MAGA hats?” he said. “Give me a break.”
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