The trial of Jussie Smollett was expected begin Monday night after a jury was picked to hear the case against the former “Empire” actor.
It’s been nearly three years since Smollett first claimed he had been the victim of a hate crime attack near his Streeterville apartment. A jury of 12, and three alternates, were chosen over about six hours Monday from a pool of 50 Cook County residents.
Smollett arrived at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse around 9 a.m., walking past a phalanx of news cameras with his mother, Janet, sister Jurnee and brothers Jocqui and Jake. Arm and arm with his mother, the former “Empire” star stepped into Judge James Linn’s courtroom and took a seat at the defense table alongside the team of attorneys that will defend him against a half-dozen felony counts for allegedly making false statements to police.
Judge Linn limited the presence of media in the courtroom during the jury selection, and it was not clear which of the 15 jurors chosen were the 12 who will deliberate. The veteran judge said jurors would stay as late as 7 p.m. Monday and most nights during the trial, which Linn said should end this week or early next.
Under questioning by Linn, a handful of prospective jurors said they had seen “Empire,” the hit drama in which Smollett co-starred. Smollett was arrested in 2019 on disorderly conduct charges for allegedly lying to police about being attacked by a pair of white men who made racist, homophobic taunts as they attacked him as he walked home from a sandwich shop near his home. Fewer potential jurors claimed to have seen TMZ, the tabloid news show that provided skeptical coverage of Smollett’s claims, citing police sources, in the early days after the attack.
Linn also asked prospective jurors whether they were members of any civil or gay rights organizations, or pro-police groups.
Smollett made international headlines — and more than a few late show monologues — in 2019 when he claimed a pair of white men assaulted him, shouted that the actor was in “MAGA country” and squirted an unknown chemical on him.
The Chicago police investigation of the attack quickly turned its focus to Smollett himself, with investigators locating the two men who perpetrated the attack. The pair, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, had worked as extras on “Empire,” and told police Smollett paid them to fake the attack as a publicity stunt. Smollett would go on to give a tearful interview on “Good Morning America,” recounting the attack and expressing outrage at those who questioned him.
Soon after, Smollett was charged with 16 counts related to making false statements to police about the attack, charges that were dropped by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office at an unscheduled hearing less than a month after Smollett was indicted.
The unorthodox move by prosecutors allowed Smollett to clear his record without admitting guilt while he forfeited his $10,000 bond to the city of Chicago. State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who announced she had recused herself from Smollett’s case the day before charges were announced, defended the deal as similar to deferred prosecution agreements made available to many defendants accused of nonviolent crimes, though she could produce no examples.
As outrage and conspiracy theories swirled around the case, a retired state Appeals Court judge petitioned for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate how Foxx’s office handled the case as well as reviewing the evidence against Smollett. Former federal prosecutor Dan Webb was appointed special prosecutor and convened a grand jury that in 2020 handed up a new, six-count indictment against Smollett alleging that the actor had indeed faked the attack. Webb’s team found no evidence of criminal conduct by Foxx or her staff but said the office had abused discretion in handling the case.
The Osundairo brothers’ testimony would appear to be crucial to the case against Smollett. The actor claims that a $3,500 check that the brothers say was payment for staging the attack was a payout for training sessions and illegal muscle-building supplements.
