Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett hit with 16 count felony indictment by grand jury originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
An Illinois grand jury has indicted “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, according to the Cook County State Attorney’s Office.
Several hours after the grand jury indictments were announced late Friday, Smollett’s attorney issued a new statement, “adamantly” maintaining the actor’s innocence and accusing law enforcement of leaking details of the probe.
Yet proving Smollett’s innocence will be a tall order for celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, as the Chicago Police Department that investigated the alleged attack continues to publicly describes Smollett’s alleged actions as “shameful, [and] if proven, an affront to the people of Chicago.
The grand jury returned two separate sets of charges, Robert Foley, a senior advisor in the state attorney’s office told ABC News.
The first set is related to what Smollett told officers about the alleged attack, including that the attackers called him racial and homophobic slurs, struck him with their hands, put a noose around his neck, and poured some sort of chemical substance on him.
The second set of charges are related to the second interview Smollett had with police about the alleged attack later that day.
Geragos, a Los Angeles-based criminal defense lawyer whose clients have included Chris Brown, Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder, is taking an aggressive approach to Smollett’s defense — calling the 16-count indictment “prosecutorial overkill” and a “desperate attempt to make headlines in order to distract from the internal [CPD] investigation launched to investigate the … leaking of false information” about the Smollett probe.
Geragos also launched a broadside at employees of the hospital where Smollett was treated after the alleged incident for the “shameless and illegal invasion of Jussie’s privacy in tampering with his medical records.”
Smollett already pleaded not guilty to the first disorderly conduct charge. He was ordered to surrender his passport and taken into custody, after which he posted $100,000 bond to be freed.
Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men near his apartment in Chicago at around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. The two men, Smollett initially said, shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him as a rope was wrapped around his neck and an unknown chemical substance was poured on him. The alleged assailants yelled “MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s “Make American Great Again” slogan, Smollett told police