American actor, Jussie Smollett returned to court on Monday to be arraigned on felony charges accusing him of lying to Chicago police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack last year.
The former Empire actor, 33, is expected to plead not guilty to the six counts of felony disorderly conduct during Monday’s hearing.
As soon as Smollett arrived in court with his family members, Abel and Ola Osundairo – the two Nigerian brothers who claimed he paid them to attack him also showed up with their attorney.
Their attroneys told DailyMail.com last week that the pair were prepared to testify for either side in the case and that they want Smollett to ‘tell the truth’.
In March 2019, Smollett was slapped with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for making false statements to the Chicago Police Department, just weeks before the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office announced it was dismissing the case.
At that time, Chicago’s mayor Rahm Emanuel expressed his anger and said the decision to drop the charges was a “whitewash of justice.” But retired appellate judge Sheila O’Brien later petitioned the court to appoint a special prosecutor to reopen the case and examine why charges against Smollett were dropped.
Special Prosecutor Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney who was appointed to examine the state’s attorney’s office’s handling of the case, is expected to attend the hearing.
Smollett, who is black and gay, told police that two masked men attacked him as he was walking home in January 2019. He said they made racist and homophobic insults, beat him and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing, and that at least one of his attackers was a white man who told him he was in “MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Weeks later, police alleged that Smollett had paid two Nigerian brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo $3,500 to stage the attack.
If convicted in the new charges, Smollett could be jailed for three years, as well as getting mandatory community service and a $25,000 fine.
