Why is Chicago suing Jussie Smollett? Cops spent 1,836 overtime hours probing hoax
The City of Chicago has confirmed that it will sue former 'Empire' star Jussie Smollett for the wasted $130k police investigation into his fake hate crime attack. Smollett was found guilty on Thursday, December 9, of staging a hate crime against himself. Prosecutors said that the one-time star of the TV drama 'Empire' committed the crime in an attempt to gain sympathy and boost his career. The Cook County Circuit Court jury deliberated for as many as nine hours. Smollett, 39, was found guilty of five of the six felony disorderly conduct counts he faced, one for each time he was accused of lying to police.
Over two dozen cops spent several weeks investigating the fake story. A July 2019 legal filing said that the police logged 1,836 overtime hours in the process. The city, which was faced with a $130,106.15 overtime tab, has said that it will sue Smollett to reclaim the cash. There also exists a lawsuit filed against Smollett's legal team by the Nigeran brothers who were hired by Smollett to stage an attack on him.
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Meanwhile, Jussie Smollett's attorney said on Thursday, December 9, that the accused is “100 percent confident” that his client will be cleared by an appeals court on charges he staged a hate crime in 2019. “We feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal,” Nenye Uche, lead attorney for the defense, said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the route we wanted but sometimes that’s the route you have to take to win, especially a case where we remain 100 percent confident in our client’s innocence.”
“He’s a human being, he’s disappointed — but I will tell you this I am very proud of him, I’m very, very proud of him,” Uche said. “He’s holding up very strong he’s committed to clearing his name and he’s 100 percent confident that he’s going to get cleared by the appellate court.”
According to Uche, Smollett’s conviction is inconsistent as he was found not guilty on only one of the six counts against him. “Jussie was not accused of doing two different things and he was accused of doing one thing, and charged multiple times for the same incident, a jury cannot come out and say guilty of lying, but not guilty of lying,” Uche said. “It doesn’t make sense.
“From the first day of this case, his case has been prejudged, his case has been tried in the media, and it’s unfortunate, this is the United States of America,” Uche continued. “We live in a constitutional democracy where everyone is presumed innocent but obviously, if we’re being honest, that hasn’t been the case. But we are confident in our appellate system, we’re confident in our Illinois Supreme Court and we’re confident that at the end of the day, what’s out there in the news media, and in the gossip forums are not going to stand a chance in court.”