Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a Grand Jury on 16 charges of false report of offense/disorderly conduct.
When Jussie Smollett was originally charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct a grand jury had been convened. In particular, they heard from the police and Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo. The two brothers who were allegedly hired to stage the fake attack. However, at that time the grand jury was not responsible for his charge and arrest.
The Indictment
On Thursday March 7, 2019 the grand jury returned a true bill indicting Jussie Smollett on sixteen counts of felony disorderly conduct. Specifically, the class four felonies were listed on the indictment as “false report of offense.”
The indictment states “Jussie Smollett knew that at the time there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed.”
Jussie Smollett was indicted on eight counts of false report of offense based on his statement to the initial officer he contacted. An additional eight indictments were issued by the grand jury yesterday. The additional charges were based on his second interview with the Chicago Police Department.
The indictment states that Jussie Smollett falsely described an attack to two officers. Specifically, that he was hit by two men, that they yelled racial and homophobic slurs, put a noose around his neck and poured a chemical on him.
This all sounds very dramatic. But it really doesn’t change anything. Jussie Smollet was already charged in this case. He won’t be rearrested. The sentence he is looking at for the Chicago charges won’t change. He can receive anything between probation and fines to three years in prison. Any sentence he gets will not be multiplied by sixteen.
Jussie Smollett was already set to be arraigned on March 14. At that time he will enter a plea on all sixteen charges (most likely not guilty) and the case will be set for trial.
There is probably some federal charges coming too for the threatening mail that he sent himself.
Those will be FAR more serious.
Yep! The feds take forever to bring charges though. They are busy right now clocking his every move from birth to present and doing background on everyone he went to middle school with. I kid, but the are very through.
Ha! They will definitely be extremely careful presenting any evidence against him prematurely publicly he causes no immediate danger or threat. It is very sad to see someone talented, with so much potential fail on a grand scale in the public eye at his own doing. Life is a bitch.
Nope, don’t blame this one on “life”. This dude unraveled his entire world without the help of “life”.
By the time the Feds indict, they will have crossed all t’s and dotted all i’s. Most people indicted by Feds, it seems, plead guilty because the case is practically air tight.
Although many of us have been following this story closely, I am looking forward to his trial – I am that damn curious to find out why Jussie allegedly / what his motive was in fabricating this whole mess
We will probably never truly know, there will be a plea deal.
The Chicago police supervisor said his motive was financial. Apparently, he wanted higher pay at Enterprise. If accurate, that is shockingly shallow and incredibly self-destructive.
Now that I don’t believe. He has a martyr complex. That is all.
Enterprise lol
Jussie did this in my opinion for 2 reasons: 1) He is good friends and possibly related to Kamala Harris who is running for president and had an anti-lynching bill up for approval. This would have “bolstered” her street creed with blacks as Kamala is not really accepted in the black community as her mother is from India and her father is Jamaican. Neither of them were Americans when she was born in Oakland, CA in 64. 2) Jussie had another album that was scheduled to drop this month. His first album did not make a ripple in the market even though he was a major actor on Empire.
Thankfully, anyone with a functioning brain won’t blame Kamala Harris for someone else’s horrendous behavior. And they also won’t consider the debate over whether or not she is “black enough” or “American enough” to run for office.
Most people who actually VOTE consider the candidate’s platform.
There will be a plea deal. If he doesn’t admit guilt he’ll never been redeemed by anyone. However, our country generally will give someone a second chance if they are genuinely remorseful. It saddens me that he brought this on himself. A young, talented man losing a brillant career by one stupid mistake. I hope others take this example and think twice before doing anything like this.
I hope he doesn’t get any jail time. A hefty fine and pay back the city’s cost to investigate with probation is enough. He has ruined his life.
I hope they throw the book at him because what he did had the potential to cause more than just harm to his life and/or reputation. If someone of his magnitude is prosecuted it just may prevent others from attempting to do anything similar.
Why, why, why???
We’ll never know.
Dumbfounded by this ass, he certainly sunk his career by his own doing!
I hope he can live with himself.
I cannot even with Jussie anymore. I feel so betrayed although I shouldn’t because I didn’t know him like that that but y’all know what I mean. I do wonder, where was this same energy for Ryan Lochte? That was on a global scale and not only did he try the USA but he also tried the Brazilian authorities. What a white world we live in. Just an observation.
You realize that Ryan Lochte’s crimes were committed in another country that had jurisdiction, right?
I don’t believe in prison time for non-violent first time offenders. That said, I think he should have to pay the Chicago police for the resources they used, apologize, and admit what he did. Maybe a little jail time (30 days? to get a taste of the situation he put himself in), community service, and probation. JMHO
If the Chicago police didn’t catch him I can only imagine the situation we, collectively, would be in. I really think if it weren’t so cold there would have been riots.
I totally agree with about the riots. Could you imagine the amount of damage it would have done to the community and business owners?Very scary.
I’d like for him to do some time. Not three years. But something.
Also, first time drug offenders with small amounts of drugs, are much different than first time hoax hate crime offenders or first time bank robbers or first time murders…. It depends on what he first time crime is.
There is an old Broadway play called “Stop the world, I want to get off “. They got the title from graffiti written on the NYC subway. That’s how I feel. STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF
I know! I’ve felt exactly that way for the last 2 1/2 years. Especially in the mornings.
Sorry, now, back to our regularly scheduled programming….
I just watched the Robin Roberts interview again. That was some performance. The anger, the tears. Wow. When I think about the fallout this could have caused, I would like him to do some jail time, along with fines.
How many actors wish they had his gig on Empire?
I really hope this comes to trial. Not sure it will be but it would be interesting.
I really wonder if he has been this way and people who know him didn’t realize it. Or if he was on something that messed with his thinking. The two brothers look like they use steroids. Maybe he did? Something seems off, besides the obvious.
I am from Sweden and my father is a lawyer who has served our country as a judge so I have been through lots of family discussions about random cases. I am a conservative that supports Trump but this whole thing is just ridiculous I read he was charged with 48 years worth of felonies and that is ridiculous for a non violent crime and the prisons in America are inhumane. He seems immature and a bit mentally behind and has most likely been scared enough already to not get in trouble ever again. why spend hard earned tax payer money to lock him up ?
He is not going to be considered for 48 years of imprisonment. The maximum sentence he will get, and that is VERY unlikely, is three years.
He is sentenced this was basically to give the prosecution 16 bites at the apple. For example if the defense can somehow provide a strong defense on one of the issues, they still have to address the other 15.
He will most likely get probation or a sentence of a year or less. So everyone in Sweden can calm their tits. As always, we appreciate your opinion based on misinformation and your desire to make America great again.
You would make a great lawyer.
Dear Tamara, My tits are very calm, and I do not represent Sweden.
Cam, the new norm in the States is for the prosecution to indict a suspect with as many charges as possible, then plead the case out to avoid trials by jury. I believe the statistic now is 99% of cases are pleaded out.
Thank you, it is a very interesting story.
He just seems like a typical american person wannabe actor who has been brought up to just value fame and money.
Cam, how many typical-American-person-wanna-be-actors do you know??
None, I attended a private american school and none became actors.
This just makes me sad. To try to create more divide in an all ready volatile political and social environment is so irresponsible was his intent to incite more hate?
I vote for some jail, at least 30 days, a fine and multiples of the reparations to the police and legal system.
As a public gay actor, I can only imagine he thought this stunt would boost his professional profile.
This is the dumbest fucking thing ever.
Why? How could you be so stupid and possibly think you could pull this off?
The MAGA supporters he made up would not be out in Chicago at 2am, the would have no idea what Empire was, and have no clue who Jussie was.
I know I’m in the minority here on TT, but I’m a Trump supporter. What this fool has done is brought to the forefront what we deal with daily. Chastise me all you want, but the bias is being exposed.
@Tasha: I’m a Trump supporter also. It’s sad that you pretty much know that you’re going to be chastised for publicly supporting President Trump. I feel like we’ve been consistently harassed. One commenter told me I was racist for wanting a wall, for example. I ignored the comment because it is not worth trying to explain to someone who clearly doesn’t have an desire to be open-minded. It is not a racist policy but the left has spun it that way. Both former President Obama and HRC have talked about border security being necessary and wanting a wall … but suddenly, because Trump wants it and MAGA supports it, it is racist.
That is just one example. We are browbeat openly. I’ve never in my life disliked someone, or assumed I knew everything I needed to know about them based on who they voted for. But, many openly stereotype a Trump supporter.
I’m not commenting to debate politics. I just wanted to agree with Tasha that what Jussie did was upsetting for a MAGA supporter. And, because no one will likely come back to read the comments here I feel somewhat safe in pointing out how stereotyped a MAGA supporter feels.
I am a conservative 60yr old white woman and I absolutely know about the show Empire! I love it!! I originally started watching because of Taraji P. Henson and Terrance Howard (he’s HOT!!). I was so excited by how they combined music and drama that I made my husband buy the 1st season DVD, but I was disappointed that there wasn’t more of Terrence on it. 🙁
Anyway, please do not assume that you know me because of my age, sex, color or political beliefs and I won’t make any assumptions about you…how ’bout that??
Thank you for saying this so eloquently!