Jussie Smollett Is Found Guilty in Disorderly Conduct Trial

Jussie Smollett has been found guilty. On Thursday, the jury ruled that he was guilty on five of the six counts of disorderly conduct for which he was charged. 

He faces up to three years in prison, and will be sentenced at a later date, which has not yet been determined.

Smollett was convicted on five counts related to giving a false report to police on the day of the attack. He was acquitted on the sixth count of giving a false report to police at a later date.

Smollett was charged with six counts of disorderly conduct in February 2020, when prosecutors alleged that the former Empire star, who is Black and gay, paid two brothers, Abel and Ola Osundairo, $3,500 to help stage a homophobic and racist attack against him in January 2019. 

The 39-year-old actor, however, claimed that two men beat him, yelled "racist and homophobic slurs," dumped an "unknown chemical substance" on him and put a noose around his neck.  

Jussie pleaded not guilty to the charges, and testified in his own defense after his trial began on Nov. 29, 2021.

During his first day on the stand, Jussie recalled first meeting Abel at a club, after which time they had a friendly and romantic relationship and would often drive around and smoke marijuana together, he claimed. Abel denied the sexual aspect of his relationship with Jussie.

As for Ola, the actor claimed that "he didn’t like me," while Jussie's lawyers sought to paint Ola as homophobic, suggesting that as a motive for the brothers to attack Jussie.

The Osundairo brothers, however, both claimed that Jussie asked and paid them to stage a racist and homophobic attack against him, and alleged that they had previously scoped out the site of the attack with Jussie, which the actor denied. 

According to CBS Chicago, when Jussie took the stand for a second day, he said "there was no hoax."

Jussie additionally alleged that the Osundairo brothers asked his rep that the actor pay them $1 million each to "go away" and say there were not involved in any hoax. Jussie said he declined to pay them. The Osundairo brothers denied making such a request.

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