Jussie Smollett’s defense attorney Nenye Uche has vowed to appeal the disgraced actor’s conviction.
After deliberating for around nine hours, the jury found the former “Empire” star guilty on five felony disorderly conduct charges for staging the racist and homophobic attack on himself in Chicago in January 2019 and filing a false police report.
Uche is confident Jussie will be “cleared of all accusations on all charges” because he is “100% innocent.”
A post-trial hearing is set for January 27th, while Cook County Judge James Linn said he would schedule sentencing at a later date.
The 39-year-old was acquitted on a sixth count, relating to allegations that he lied to a detective in mid-February, weeks after the attack.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution accused Smollett of paying brothers Abimbola ‘Abel’ and Olabinjo ‘Ola’ Osundairo to orchestrate the attack, with each testifying that they were paid to ambush the actor.
The pair also alleged that at a dress rehearsal beforehand, the actor instructed them to use homophobic and racist slurs.
The prosecution argued that the motivation behind the attack related to the “Empire” production team not handling hate mail he received the way he would have liked.
When he took to the witness stand, he testified that the attack was genuine and that he had paid the brothers to help him with workout and nutrition advice ahead of a planned vacation.
Smollett was initially charged in March 2019 with 16 counts of disorderly conduct, which were later dropped before being revived by special prosecutor Dan Webb.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison, but experts predict Smollett will be given probation and community service instead of time behind bars.
