Jury sees video of Jussie Smollett in 'dry run' a day before alleged hate attack - New York Post

Dec 01, 2021

CHICAGO — Embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was caught on surveillance video doing a “dry run” one day before his alleged hate crime attack, prosecutors said at his trial in Chicago Tuesday.

29, 2019, alleged attack with Nigerian brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who are expected to be key witnesses for the prosecution in the case.

Prosecutors poked a hole in that claim Tuesday, revealing a text message sent by Smollett to one of the siblings a couple of weeks after the alleged attack, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Smollett ever come clean about this hate crime?” deputy special prosecutor Samuel Mendenhall asked the cop.

Theis also said that Smollett was “not forthcoming” with investigators after he reported that he was attacked by men using homophobic and racial epithets while they allegedly assaulted him, according to a report by FoxNews.

“At the end of the investigation we determined that the alleged hate crime was actually a staged event,” Theis testified

Prosecutors contend that Smollett paid the siblings $3,500 to help in the alleged hoax

Defense attorney Nenye Uche told jurors a “real crime” took place, claiming that the Osundarios attacked Smollett because they “did not like him as a person.”