After six days of testimony, and a full day of closing arguments by both sides, the 12-person jury began considering the disorderly conduct charges late on Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier in the trial, the special prosecutor in the case, Daniel K.
Mr. Webb argued on Wednesday that Mr. Smollett’s own account of what had occurred did not make sense.
Mr. Smollett, he pointed out, initially reported that one of his attackers had been white even though Abimbola Osundairo, whom he knows well, is Black and is someone whose voice he has heard many times.
Mr. Webb also said evidence indicated that Mr. Smollett “tampered” with the rope on his neck to make it look like it was fitted more tightly than when Olabinjo Osundairo put it over Mr. Smollett’s head.
On Monday, Mr. Smollett had denied tampering with the rope.
“His lack of motive is pretty obvious: Media attention, he doesn’t like it,” Mr. Uche said.
A staged hate crime? In 2019, Jussie Smollett, an actor from the show “Empire,” told police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago.
Others involved.
In it, Smollett discussed needing help and meeting “on the low.” Security camera footage shows Mr. Smollett’s black Mercedes pulling up in an alley behind one of the brothers’ homes that afternoon.
The office had agreed to a plan where Mr. Smollett would do community service and forfeit the $10,000 bond paid for his release, in exchange for the office dropping the charges, with no admission of guilt.
Webb, announced that a grand jury had revived the case with a new indictment, and he criticized the earlier decision to drop the case.
He said a witness had seen a white man in the vicinity of the attack, suggesting the brothers could have had a white accomplice, which would explain Mr. Smollett’s identification.