Jussie Smollett, a former “Empire” actor, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday after being found guilty of lying to police in a hate crime hoax.
This comes three months after Smollett was found guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct.
He received “one count for each separate time he was charged with lying to police in the days immediately after the alleged attack,” as USA Today put it.
One of the jurors in Smollett’s trial spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times, saying they “all thought we were doing Jussie a favor” acquitting him on the sixth charge.
Per CNN, “At a hearing for Smollett’s sentencing Thursday afternoon, attorneys are first expected to argue before Judge James Linn over the actor’s request to toss the verdict or grant him a new trial.”
Actor Jussie Smollett is scheduled to be sentenced today, three months after being convicted of staging his own hate crime. pic.twitter.com/GaXsM9ADnX
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 10, 2022
Politicians previously came under fire for “impulsively” believing Smollett’s story.
“The View” co-host Sara Haines previously said during the show, “The part that jumped out at me the most about this story, though, was the rush of leaders across this country to do the right thing on Twitter and make sure they spoke up immediately in defense before knowing everything.”
“When you approach anything that happens you need to bring the information in, you need to respond, not react. And everyone across the board reacted very quickly and impulsively on Twitter,” she added. “And I just think it’s a reminder that you can’t dial that back in.”
