Jussie Smollett juror: Split decision was ‘favor’ to actor after debate over final count
“I just hope that [Smollett and his attorneys] know that we went in there with an open mind,” the juror told the Sun-Times after the actor was found guilty of staging a hate crime. “I listened to both sides.”
By Matthew Hendrickson@MHendricksonCST Dec 10, 2021, 8:13pm CST
The jury in Jussie Smollett’s trial felt they were doing him “a favor” when they convicted the former “Empire” actor on five counts of disorderly conduct, but not a sixth, one of the jurors told the Sun-Times Friday.
The decision was one the jury struggled with, the juror said.
In the end, “we all thought we were doing Jussie a favor,” said the juror, who asked not to be named.
That count charged the actor with lying to police during a second interview with detectives on Feb. 14 when he reported he was the victim of an aggravated battery. The other five counts of disorderly conduct Smollett was convicted of were for reporting a battery and for reporting a hate crime to other officers in the hours after the attack.
Essentially, the jurors got hung up on the reasoning behind the last charge and why it was charged differently than the others.
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https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/12/10/22828351/jussie-smollett-juror-interview-hate-crime-hoax
