The grand jury in the Jussie Smollett case delivered 16 charges against Smollett. If convicted of all the charges, Smollett could serve up to 48 years in prison. That means that he could be out in time for the Empire 30th Anniversary reunion show.
Smollett is responsible for a fake hate crime in which he paid two brothers to fake an attack on him allegedly. Smollett believed himself to be smarter than the police and obviously never doubted he would get away with it. Every lawbreaker feels that way no matter what the crime is.
Smollett was originally only charged with one count of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office on Feb. 20.
The TV actor claimed he was the victim of a vicious hate crime in the Streeterville neighborhood on Jan. 29. He said two men physically attacked him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs, threw a chemical liquid on him and looped a rope around his neck.
The grand jury returned two separate sets of charges, one of each lie Smollett allegedly told. The first set are related to what Smollett told officers about the alleged attack, including that the attackers called him racial and homophobic slurs, struck him with their hands, put a noose around his neck, and poured some sort of chemical substance on him.
The second set of charges are related to the second interview Smollett had with police about the alleged attack later that day, saying the men attacked him from behind and he fell to the ground, at which point the men continued kicking him. Smollett also told police on this occasion that one of his attackers was white.
The two sets of charges correspond to two sets of police officers Smollett allegedly lied to.