More than two years after former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was arrested for allegedly filing a false police report, it looks like he will be heading to trial.
According to a Saturday (Oct. 16) report from TMZ, Smollett is now set to head to trial for a disorderly conduct charge he caught after being accused of making up a story about him getting beat up by two Donald Trump supporters in Chicago. It was January 2019 when he made the claims, and he was arrested for the disorderly conduct charge the next month.
Now, after a Cook County judge dismissed his attempt to have the case thrown out of court, Smollett is heading to trial next month. It’s set to begin after Thanksgiving.
This development is one Smollett’s attorney thinks is unfair. After he was initially arrested, Smollett forfeited his $10,000 bond and performed community service as part of a deal that stipulated that he charges he faced would be dismissed. With this in mind, his attorney believes Smollett’s rights have been violated.
However, as TMZ points out, because a special prosecutor refiled the charges against Smollett, the terms of his original deal don’t apply.
This entire saga began unfolding on Jan. 29, 2019. That’s when Smollett told Chicago police that he was attacked by two men who beat him and shouted racial slurs as they did so. According to him, they also left some rope around his neck. At the time, Smollett suggested that he was targeted because he spoke out against then President Donald Trump. The next month, he was charged with filing a false police report.
Chicago police believe that Smollett paid brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo $3,500 to attack him that January. At the time, Smollett had been starring on “Empire,” but he was soon removed from the show. To this day, Smollett maintains his innocence.