In January 2019 Jussie Smollett claimed that he was the victim of a racial attack when he was beaten, had an unknown liquid poured on him, and a noose put around his neck by two white guys. The attack was initially investigated as a hate crime but in February 2019 police began to suspect that Smollutt staged the attack and was later charged by a grand jury for filing a false police report.
What follows is a long, drawn out, back and forth court battle.
Now, Smollett is asking once again that the charges against him be dropped arguing that the grand jury testimony used in his second indictment is invalid.
The former “Empire” star is facing renewed charges for the staged hate crime against himself. It is the testimony of the two men Smollett hired as his attackers that is the basis for his calls to dismiss the charges.
Smollett’s lawyers argue that the renewed charges are based on “illegal and incompetent evidence” and should be thrown out.
The motion states, “The OSP cannot have it both ways. It annot convene a special gran jury based on Judge Toomin’s Order but then rely on the transcripts from those ‘void’ proceedings to secure a new indictment.”
“Furthermore,” the motion continues, “there is no legitimate reason why the Osundairo brothers were not called to provide live testimony to the special grand jury, particularly when they live locally in Chicago, were available and cooperating with the OSP, and reportedly met with the OSP for hours only one month earlier.”
Smollett’s lawyers say that the prosecution didn’t want to risk perjury by the two men and therefore avoided putting them on the stand. They call the omissions “substantial and prejudicial” and because of that Smollett was never granted due process. They also allege that the prosecution dismissed a statutory requirement to inform grand jurors that they could request live testimony from the two men if they wanted it.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for October 14.
