Jury shown body-cam footage of Jussie Smollett with rope around his neck during trial: LIVE UPDATES
The court session has ended for the day after the prosecution called its third witness to the stand. The trial will resume Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. EST.
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The prosecution called two more witnesses to the stand, Chicago police officer Muhammad Baig and Chicago police sergeant Joseph Considine.
Baig told prosecutors he was called to Jussie Smollett's apartment around 2:30 a.m. on the night of the alleged attack. He was greeted at the scene by Smollett’s “creative director” who escorted him to the actor's place. Smollett was still wearing the rope around his neck when Baig arrived. The actor had told police that he didn't want to touch the rope until officers could see it.
Baig also confirmed that Smollett had told him the actor did not know his attackers.
The officer was wearing a body camera when he arrived on the scene, but admitted he turned it off after being asked by Smollett. Baig said he obliged to the actor's request because at the time he considered Smollett to be a victim.
"Due to the heinous and violent nature of the crime…we requested a supervisor come to the scene," Baig told prosecutors.
The jury was shown Baig's body-cam footage, which included video of Smollett with the rope tied around his neck.
After turning the body-cam off, Baig claimed he told Smollett that the attack was likely picked up on surveillance cameras. The actor confirmed to Baig that he had noticed security cameras in the vicinity of the attack. Smollett then led police to the scene of the crime before heading to the hospital to be treated. The actor had minor abrasions on his neck at the time.
The prosecution then put Considine, who was the supervisor called to the scene that night, on the stand.
Considine was also wearing a body-cam when he arrived on the scene. The jury was shown the footage from his camera, which included conversation between the officer and Smollett regarding security cameras.
By the time Considine arrived at the scene, Smollett had taken the rope off of his neck. The sergeant noted that he saw the rope rolled up into a ball on the table and noted it looked new. Considine thought Smollett might have been targeted because he was on a popular TV show at the time, "Empire."
Court will resume Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. EST.
Detective Michael Theis got back on the stand for a cross examination following a lunch break.
The defense got Detective Theis to admit that actor Jussie Smollett never specifically said the Osundairo brothers attacked him. Instead, Smollett said he didn’t know who attacked him.
Theis also revealed police had found nine cellphones in the Osundairo home. The Uber driver claimed the brothers received a phone call while in his car at the time, but apparently the brothers told police that they didn’t have a phone. The defense suggested the Osundairo brothers might’ve gotten a call from an accomplice in the the attack. Theis then admitted he never confronted the brothers about it.
After being shown a photo of the $3,500 check given to Bola Osundairo from Smollett, Theis agreed Smollett got a training and nutrition plan from Bola. However, the detective noted Bola told him that the money was for training “but probably also for the staged attack."
Theis also confirmed an assault rifle, other guns and boxes of ammunition were found during a search of the Osundairo apartment, although Ola Osundario has a felony conviction for aggravated battery and cannot legally possess a gun. The defense claimed the brothers were just telling police what they wanted to hear in order to avoid charges for the guns.
Cocaine and bleach were found inside the apartment during the search as well. The defense pointed out that bleach is a processing agent for cocaine and heroin and noted that no charges for the drugs or guns were brought against the brothers.
The prosecution then attempted to re-direct the theory that the Osundairo brothers were working with an accomplice.
"While the brothers were seen on video walking around at 1:40 in the morning, before the alleged attack, did you ever see them with any other person?" Theis was asked. "No," he responded.
Jussie Smollett was allegedly seen on video conducting a dry run of his attack the day before it took place, further lending credence to the prosecution’s claims that he orchestrated the whole thing.
During opening arguments on Monday, special prosecutor Dan Webb told the jury that Smollett was upset that a threatening hate letter that was sent to the studio behind "Empire" wasn’t taken seriously enough. As a result, Webb is hoping to convince a jury that the actor hired brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo to attack him.
One potentially damning piece of evidence teased during Webb’s opening arguments was that there is surveillance video showing Smollett and the two siblings, who he worked with on "Empire," doing a kind of "dry run" of the attack in the area the day before it allegedly took place.
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Fox News' Tyler McCarthy contributed to this post.
Brothers Olabinjo Osundairo, right, and Abimbola Osundairo, appear outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
The jury in the trial of Jussie Smollett were shown their first piece of evidence by way of videos discovered during the initial police investigation.
The jury saw videos that showed the scene of the alleged attack on the night it took place. Smollett is seen walking around the area with brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo. Eventually, the siblings get in a cab and take it to a nearby neighborhood. Police say they were able to track them by way of video footage obtained from residents in the area’s security cameras.
When the Osundairo brothers switched from a taxi to an Uber, police were able to use that booking to identify them and determine that they worked with Smollett on “Empire.” Chicago police detective Michael Theis noted that he believes these videos help prove that Smollett and the brothers planned the attack together and that it wasn’t a random hate crime as the actor had previously alleged to police.
Former Chicago police detective Michael Theis took the stand at Jussie Smollett’s trial on Tuesday to counter the actor’s claim that police rushed to judgement regarding his case.
Theis noted that two dozen detectives clocked in roughly 3,000 hours investigating what they initially believed to be a racist, homophobic attack before they determined it was a hoax. He said investigators spent days after Smollett's January 2019 report following up on leads, collecting videos from surveillance cameras, door bell videos and videos from businesses in the area, as well as poring over phone records and canvassing the area in sub-zero temperatures.
Theis also noted that Smollett was not forthcoming, declining to provide things like his medical records related to the attacks or DNA that could have been compared to evidence found at the scene.
“At the end of the investigation, we determined that the alleged hate crime was actually a staged event” done by Smollett, Theis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jussie Smollett arrives with his family to court for the second day of his trial. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
Jussie Smollett’s brother, Jojo, offered a brief statement in defense of his brother as he arrived in court for day two of his highly anticipated trial in Chicago.
Smollett has maintained his innocence throughout being charged originally, those charges being dropped and now standing trial on renewed charges. On Tuesday, as the former “Empire” actor arrived at court with his family, his brother offered a brief statement about Jussie’s case.
"It has been incredibly painful as his family to watch someone you love be accused of something you did not do," Jojo said. "[I'm] confident in his legal team and look forward to people hearing actual facts in this case. We love him, we're here, all of us, to support him and to lift him up. Thank you."
Smollett’s attorney, Nenye Uche, said yesterday during opening arguments that evidence will show “a tremendous rush to judgement by various police officials,” and alleged there was no physical evidence that proves Jussie orchestrated his own attack.
As testimony in Jussie Smollett’s trial is poised to kick off Tuesday, many are wondering who exactly the prosecution and defense plan to call to the stand.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb said Monday that testimony will get underway today with a Chicago police officer taking the witness stand.
Currently, it is expected that siblings Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo will testify at some point in the trial, which the judge expects to last at least a week. They will likely echo statements they previously made to the police in which they alleged that Smollett paid them to carry out the allegedly fake attack against him in January of 2019. He allegedly told them to shout racial and homophobic slurs and “MAGA.” Smollett also allegedly told the brothers to buy ski masks, red hats.
Jurors also are expected this week to see surveillance video from more than four dozen cameras that police reviewed to trace the brothers' movements before and after the reported attack, as well as a video showing the brothers purchasing supplies hours earlier.
The jury was selected on Monday in the trial against Smollett. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
Jussie Smollett's trial jury was selected on Monday in the case against the former "Empire" actor for allegedly faking a hate crime back in January 2019.
A class 4 felony, the crime carries a sentence of up to three years in prison. However, experts have said it is more likely that if Smollett is convicted he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, who is not working on the case, told Fox News, he believes the odds are stacked against Smollett. "[The prosectution] has a really strong case," he said listing the evidence which includes phone records and texts between Smollett and his alleged hired attackers.
"The prosecution is strong because of corroborating, independent evidence that is consistent with Smollett making a false police report," Rahmani explained. "What type of explanation can Smollett's attorney have to justify him contacting the brothers?"
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Actor Jussie Smollett arrives with his mother Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse for jury selection at his trial in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
During opening statements, the special prosecutor, Dan Webb, repeatedly called Smollett’s incident a “fake” hate crime.
He used the word "fake" over and over to the jury from start to finish.Webb said Smollett devised a fake hate crime that occurred against him by Donald Trump supporters and then gave false police reports.
Webb told the jury that Smollett gave a false report to police six different times – which is why Smollett is charged with six felony counts of lying to police.
Meanwhile, Smollett's attorney Nene Uche argued the actor is a "victim." -Tyler McCarthy
Fox News' Matt Finn contributed to this report
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