The actor Jussie Smollett who is best known for starring in “Empire”, shouted loudly, said, “I am innocent. I could have said that I am guilty a long time ago”. Smollett’s grandmother was present at the time of the hearing and she had described himself as the “justice warrior”. And the 92-year-old woman Molly also said in the court, “If you send him to the jail, send me along with him”, on Thursday.
Smollett’s brother Joel was also at the time of such hearing and spoke in his defense and said that “he is not a threat to the people of Illinois”. Jussie Smollett had been sent to jail for 150 days after lying to the police about a racist attack, that in reality, he had staged on himself. But along with such imprisonment, he also has been sentenced to 30 months of felony probation. Along with he also has been ordered to pay $120,106 in restitution as well as a $25,000 fine.
Jussie Smollett had claimed that he was accosted by two masked strangers on a dark Chicago street in January 2019. Smollett said that the attackers threw a noose around his neck and poured chemicals on him while they were yelling at him as racist and homophobic. The prosecutors alleged that Jussie Smollett, a 39-year-old black and gay guy had lied to the police officers happening of any such event in reality.
Lawyers representing Jussie Smollett also laid out support from a “Black Lives Matter” organizer. And adding to this Samuel Jackson asked the judge to consider the impact such imprisonment would have on his life and career. But later on, the council came to know and the Jussie Smollett, the star, was arrested a month later, of such claim, that he had paid two brothers $3,500 to stage the attack on him to raise his profile in the society or in the world of glamour.
Although before such sentencing, the experts had predicted that Smollett is not a danger to the people and would not be sent to jail because he does not have an extensive criminal history. And conviction was for a low-level and non-violent crime. Local officials expressed that the costs of such investigation in this matter and allegations on Jussie Smollett were significant.
Prosecutors on Thursday urged the judge to give Smollett an “appropriate” sentence, pointing to the fact that the actor has never taken responsibility for his actions and saying he may have hurt the efforts of real hate crime victims to come forward.
