Smollett sent text message affirming Osundairo brothers' innocence, prosecution says: LIVE UPDATES

After a break, the defense requested Bola Osundairo's cross examination happen on Thursday. The defense claimed "3-4 hours" would be needed to complete the cross examination. The defense also argued that the cross examination should take place in one day as not to disturb the flow of the argument.

Prosecutor Dan Webb argued that he would have questioned Bola for longer if he had known the defense wasn't going to begin cross examination Wednesday evening.

The judge put Bola back on the stand and allowed Webb to reopen his questioning.

Bola confirmed that he was the legal owner of the guns found during the search of his and his brothers' apartment meaning he wouldn't have needed to make a deal with police to avoid charges, according to the testimony.

The court session has ended for the day and will resume with the cross examination of Bola on Thursday.

Bola Osundairo continued his testimony Wednesday.

Bola showed the jury on a map the location where he and his brother Ola waited for Smollett on the night the attack occurred. Bola pointed to the Streeterville area, a Chicago neighborhood. Bola told prosecutor Dan Webb that him, his brother and Smollett executed the attack just like they had practiced and the two brothers then fled the scene.

The next day as the attack appeared on the news, Bola texted Smollett wishing him a speedy recovery, as instructed by the actor.

Prosecutor Webb showed jury footage of Bola and Ola walking down Lakeshore drive on the night of the attack. The footage was used by police as a community alert in an effort to have Bola and Ola identified.

Bola testified that he was contacted by Smollett on the day he and his brother left for Nigeria. Smollett reached out to him again during a layover in Istanbul, Turkey, according to Bola.

"I believe he was trying to find out if we had any troubles, if we were still alright," Bola told Webb.

On Feb. 13, the two brothers returned from Nigeria and were arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare airport upon arrival. On Feb. 14, the Osundairo brothers hired attorney Gloria Rodriguez who helped assist them in an interview with Chicago police.

On Feb. 15, Bola and Ola were released from police custody.

While the brothers were in police custody, Bola received the following text from Smollett, which was shown to the jury:

"Brother, I love you, I stand with you I know 1000%, you and your brother did nothing wrong and never will. Please hit me when they let you go. I’m behind you fully," Smollett wrote in the text message.

Next, the defense will cross examine Bola.

Bola Osundairo recalled being asked to meet face-to-face with Jussie Smollett after he was shown a photo of a hate note the actor had received. Smollett wanted Bola to "beat him up," but "fake beat him up" because the studio wasn't taking the hate mail seriously, according to his testimony.

"Why did you agree to do it?" Prosecutor Dan Webb asked Bola.

"I felt indebted to Jussie," Bola responded. "He got me a stand-in role on empire. I also thought he could further help my acting career."

Bola claimed Smollett gave instructions for how the two brothers would execute the attack and asked Bola to do a "dry run" of the attack.

"He told us specifically to use us the words, 'MAGA, Empire, fag, n----r,'" Bola said. "He told us we would need to purchase gasoline, gloves, a ski mask and a red hat."

Bola showed the jury the area where Smollett suggested the attack take place. He claimed Smollett wanted the fake attack to occur near the bridge that led from Upper Water street to lower Water street because of the cameras posted there. He wanted to use the camera footage "for media."

Bola was instructed to send a condolences letter to Smollett from the brothers after the attack.

The prosecution called Abimbola (Bola) Osundairo to the stand as the sixth witness.

Bola described his relationship with actor Jussie Smollett. Bola claimed he got a job on "Empire," where Smollett was the star, in 2016 as an extra and then a stand-in.

Bola visited Smollett at his home in 2017 with his friend Norman. Smollett and Bola became friends and hung out together. Bola told the prosecutor that he spent time with the actor night clubs, strip clubs, concerts, bath houses and sometimes would spend time with Smollett at his apartment where they would "smoke weed."

Bola confirmed his brother Ola had also been there during these hang outs at Smollett's home, at least 3-5 times.

"We became very good friends..I would call him my brother," Bola said on the stand and confirmed that he and Smollett trusted each other.

Smollett helped Bola get a stand-in role on "Empire" after the Osundairo brother requested his help. For eight months, Bola played Smollett's love interest on the show. The role ended in 2019 after the alleged hate crime occurred.

Bola had created "Team Able" with his brother and Smollett had asked for help getting in shape for an upcoming music video. Bola claimed he created a grocery list and meal plan for Smollett, but maintained that he never asked for payment. Bola claimed he never met with Smollett to show him how to do exercise and he never became Smollett's personal trainer on a regular basis.

"Did you ever charge him money for the exercise or meal plan?" prosecutor Dan Webb asked.

"No, because he was a good friend," Bola responded.

The prosecution called its 5th witness in the case against Jussie Smollet, California police Detective Robert Graves, who  mostly backed up his partner Detective Kimberly Murray’s testimony. 

However, one piece of information that Graves brought up was the fact that Smollett changed his initial story slightly upon his second interview with police. When he and Murray initially interviewed Smollett at the hospital on the night of the attack, he was confident that White men had attacked him. 

On Feb. 14, 2019, Graves recalls being called into work on his day off to re-interview Smollett at the police station. That’s when he stated that the people who attacked him were “pale skinned.” When investigators pointed out the difference, Smollett allegedly responded that he assumed the people were white based on what they said to him. The actor previously stated that his attackers said pro-Donald Trump statements as well as racist and homophobic slurs at him. 

At the time of the second interview, the Osundario brothers had been taken into custody. Graves believes that Smollett put that together after he was shown pictures of the duo during his interview. 

Jussie Smollett arrives for day 3 of his trial in Chicago. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

Jussie Smollett reportedly looked "upset" when he was told by a police officer that a security camera did not capture his alleged assault.

The actor, who is accused of lying to police when he reported he was the victim of racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago, appeared troubled when he was told that a surveillance camera did not record the alleged assault, Chicago police detective Kimberly Murray testified Wednesday.

Murray described how she took a report from Smollett at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was being treated for injuries that Murray described as “minor.”

She also said Smollett was “upset” when she told him a surveillance camera in the area didn't capture the alleged attack because it was pointed away from the scene. Murray said she explained to the actor that the cover on the pod camera makes it impossible to know which way it is pointing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The defense seemingly struggled to explain away Jussie Smollett’s lack of cooperation with police on the morning of his alleged hate crime attack. 

The former “Empire” actor is accused of orchestrating the attack against himself with the help of two brothers who worked on the series with him. Much has been made by police and prosecutors of the fact that Smollett refused to hand over his phone to the police in the investigation, denied officers the ability to check his medical records stemming from the incident and would not submit a DNA sample to help differentiate between his and any that may have been found belonging to his attackers. 

On cross examining Detective Kimberly Murray, who was a witness for the prosecution and the officer who took Smollett’s statement at the hospital, was asked by Heather Widell during cross examination if it’s true that most people don’t turn over their phones to police. Murray replied under oath that most people, in fact do. 

Murray did note, though, that Smollett had previously provided a DNA and fingerprint sample to the FBI as part of its investigation into a threatening letter delivered to the set of “Empire.” Smollett’s attorney also noted that he did not call the police personally and that his priority that night was to keep things as quiet as possible.

The prosecution’s first witness on day three of Jussie Smollett’s trial was Chicago police detective Kimberly Murray, who was the person to take a report from Smollett on the morning after the attack while he was being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. 

Jurors were shown photos of the injuries the former “Empire” actor suffered during the alleged hate crime incident, with the prosecution noting that they were “minor” and included scratches on his face, redness in his cheeks and neck as well as an injury to his lower lip. He was also complaining about back and rib pain at the time.

Most importantly, Murray testified that Smollett said in his report that he was attacked by two people. The defense has claimed previously that a third attacker may have been involved, someone who would better match Smollett’s initial claim that he was attacked by a White man and could not see the other person. However Nigerian brothers who police determined carried out the alleged crime are Black and were known to Smollett. 

Smollett previously stated that the attacker he could see wore a ski mask. The brothers claimed they were told to purchase red hats to make it look like they were supporters of then-President Donald Trump and hurled racist and homophobic language at him throughout. On Tuesday former Chicago police detective Michael Theis noted that they were not able to find one instance of the brothers lying.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Actor Jussie Smollett arrives Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse for day two of his trial in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

More testimony is expected on day 3 of Jussie Smollett’s trial in Chicago over his allegedly faked hate crime attack in January of 2019. 

On Tuesday, the prosecution and the defense questioned a handful of police officers and detectives who were responsible for investigating the “Empire” actor’s initial claims about being physically attacked by people hurling racial and homophobic slurs at him. Evidence was also shown to the jury in the form of videos and photographs that showed Smollett as well as brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo on the night of the incident. 

A key moment in yesterday’s proceedings that will likely come up on day three involved a text message that was sent from Smollett to the brothers, who he worked with on “Empire,” saying that he didn’t believe they’d done anything wrong following their arrest. 

Detective Michael Theis testified that Smollett sent a text essentially saying: “I know 1000%. You and your brother did nothing wrong... I am making this statement so everyone else knows ... Please hit me when they let you go. I am behind you fully.”

Much was made of the fact that Smollett reported that he did not know who his attackers were despite having a pre-existing relationship with the Osundairo brothers.

Meanwhile, the defense claims that the brothers were homophobic and are arguing that likely inspired the attack. Smollett continues to maintain that he was the victim of a crime and had no part in planning it.