Yesterday (December 9th) Jussie Smollett was found guilty of reporting a false hate crime. According to TMZ, a Chicago jury was found guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report claiming he was the victim of a hate crime on January 29th, 2019. Smollett was also acquitted on one count of felony disorderly conduct.
In response to Jussie's sentencing, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “We finally got #justiceforjussie. I’m just happy to live in a country where people will go to jail for attacking a gay black man… There’s absolutely no place for that s**t in America, or anywhere else, and I am happy the perpetrator was brought to justice.
Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter's Dr. Melina Abdullah released a statement supporting Jussie, saying, “In our commitment to abolition, we can never believe police, especially the Chicago Police Department (CPD) over Jussie Smollett, a Black man who has been courageously present, visible, and vocal in the struggle for Black freedom. While policing at-large is an irredeemable institution, CPD is notorious for its long and deep history of corruption, racism, and brutality.”
Abdullah continued, “From the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, to the Burge tortures, to the murder of Laquan McDonald and subsequent cover-up, to the hundreds of others killed by Chicago police over the years and the thousands who survived abuse, Chicago police consistently demonstrate that they are among the worst of the worst. Police lie and Chicago police lie especially.”
Back in October, Jussie attempted to get the case dismissed because he had already made a deal in Cook County to drop the charges. The deal included community service and a forfeited $10,000 bond, but the request was denied.
Back in March 2019, Jussie was indicted by a grand jury and the case was dropped weeks later. Then a special prosecutor picked the case back up and charged him with disorderly conduct for lying to police.
Smollett faces up to three years in prison for the class 4 felonies and a $25,000 fine. He has a clean criminal record, so it is unlikely that he will serve any time in jail.