Hours after actor/singer Jussie Smollett turned himself in to face charges of ‘filing a false police report’ stemming from the case built around his alleged staged attack (as we reported here), prosecutors are unveiling shocking evidence they’ve gathered so far.
Details inside:
Although defense lawyers insisted Smollett need to get back to work on Empire, the judge today seemed to care less, calling the incident “utterly outrageous” and “despicable” if the actor is found guilty.
The defense fought back, proclaiming Smollett returned to Chicago on Wednesday to face the coming charges and “wants nothing more than to clear his name.”
In court, Smollett was wearing the same clothes he was arrested in earlier in the day. Seen as a possible flight risk, the actor was asked to surrender his passport during the hearing, which lasted just less than 20 minutes. He also was told to hand over $10,000. [source]
As the prosecution laid out the evidence, they also suggested drug abuse was involved.
…prosecutor Risa Lanier said that one of the other individuals involved in the incident, Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo, had, in the past, sold MDMA to Smollett regularly. Osundairo shared with police that Smollett has been purchasing the drug from him for almost a year, starting in the spring of 2018.
Several days before the attack, Smollett sent several text messages to Osundairo, trying to meet for a discussion and possible drug purchase.
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If found guilty in this case, Smollett could face up to three years in jail for disorderly conduct and filing a false police report.