Jussie Smollett Found Guilty Of Falsely Reporting Hate Crime By NBC News

We are coming back with breaking news here in the trial of Justice Millette. You know, we’ve been covering it. The jury has reached a verdict and it is at least for most of the counts guilty for Smollett. Let me remind you of what had happened here. The jury began deliberating last night and between yesterday and today for something like nine plus h, and I don’t half hours on our count, over the course of the trial they heard from nearly a dozen Witnesses, including two brothers, who say Smollett paid them to Stage the whole thing. That was the Crux of the prosecutor’s case here, right? The

Prosecutors were saying listen, this guy’s credibility in so many words. Justice Millette credibility is shot. The defense was arguing. This was not the case Millette denied that this alleged attack against him was a hoax. Remember, this was in 2019, this allegedly and racist and homophobic attack. And we now know that as Smollett has faced six counts of disorderly conduct for making what prosecutors say was a false police report about this attack. He has been found guilty on five.

Of the six counts five of the six counts guilty. So this is some interesting news that’s coming to us just now into our NBC Newsroom. I want to bring in here, NBC News, legal analyst, Danny cevallos, NBC News, legal analyst, and former Federal, prosecutor, Cynthia Cox, knee and Joseph Tully. He’s a criminal defense attorney Danny. Let me start with you here because you and I have talked on this show about the Smollett case specifically. And now here we are, we have the verdict returned from the jury. Again. This is developing literally as we speak. I’m getting word in my ear for my producer of

Of what these charges are. As we’re talking here. I would imagine based on the things you said before that, you are not totally shocked. That this is how it turned out. I’m not totally shocked, and you’re absolutely right. We’re getting this in real time. I want your producer in my year, to tell me what count, we’re still waiting on and it was found since it was not guilty. So he was counts. One through five guilty counts, six, not guilty. And that, that count, count six was a reference. I believe to Smollett telling one of the detectives that he’d been a victim of an

Battery, right? The other five counts again, these all relate to Smollett saying things that prosecutors have just were not true to police, right? I hope that helps you any is that useful? It does it’s fascinating because the it she tells us the jury, really considered these charges in detail win over the jury instructions, and essentially concluded that small LED light or gave a false report as to certain kinds of crimes, but not as to say, aggravated battery contained in count six, but overall, it’s clear the

We believe that small let gave false reports and I don’t think Smollett helped himself very much in testifying and getting into a verbal combat with the prosecutors. But as it was the prosecution already had substantial evidence. If I was on smollett’s defense team, I might have considered putting them up anyway, because what else are you going to do? I want to ask my team in the control group. That’s the video of Smollett that we just showed arriving a court tonight. It was actually. So the video you just saw that kind of scrum of people. This is it, that’s me.

Let arriving to hear the counts against him.

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