Jussie Smollett was found guilty on five counts in connection with staging ahate crime against himself inChicago .- On January 29, 2019, the ex-"Empire" actor said he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack.
Jussie Smollett was found guilty on five out of six counts on Thursday in connection with staging a hate crime against himself nearly three years ago on the streets of downtown Chicago.
A 12-person jury found the ex-"Empire" actor guilty at his criminal trial on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing false police reports when he said he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in the early morning hours of January 29, 2019.
The six-man, six-woman jury reached the verdict in the high-profile case after more than 9 hours of deliberations at Chicago's George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Smollett, 39, faces a prison sentence of up to three years. But experts have said he would most likely be put on probation and ordered to do community service, according to the Associated Press.
The actor, who is Black and openly gay, unexpectedly took the stand in his trial, telling jurors, "There was no hoax on my part," the AP reported.
It was like "something out of Looney Tunes adventures," Smollett said as he described the attack for jurors, according to the New York Post.
In 2019, Smollett reported to police that he was jumped by two men in ski masks in downtown Chicago at around 2 a.m. who yelled racist and homophobic slurs and shouted a reference to then-President Donald Trump's campaign slogan.
"This person felt significantly larger than me," Smollett testified. "They were dressed in dark clothes, a ski mask."
He also told investigators that the men doused him with bleach, put a noose around his neck, and beat him.
During his testimony, Smollett called the two Nigerian-American brothers — who prosecutors said Smollett hired and paid $3,500 to attack him — "liars."
Smollett testified that the brothers — Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who were the prosecution's star witnesses — lied that he orchestrated the attack and that they asked Smollett for $1 million each to not testify against him at
The $3,500 check to Abimbola Osundairo, Smollett said, was for a nutrition and work-out plan.
The Osundairo brothers each testified at the trial, explaining to jurors how Smollett compensated them and directed them to carry out the assault.
"He explained that he wanted me to fake beat him up," Abimbola Osundairo testified, according to the Chicago Tribune. "He told me that we would need another person to fake beat him up and he mentioned could my brother do it? I said yes."
Special prosecutor Dan Webb told jurors in his closing statements that there was "overwhelming evidence" that Smollett faked the attack against himself.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.