“Jussieadamantly maintains his innocenceeven if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption,” his attorney, Mark Geragos, said in a statement released to PEOPLE after those indictments were announced.
Representatives for Smollett did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Jessie Smollett.Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty
Jussie Smollett outside a Chicago courthouse on Thursday.Matt Marton/AP/Shutterstock
Smollett and his legal team previously said they are gearing up to launch an “aggressive defense,” according to his attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson.
“Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked,” Pugh and Henderson said in a statement given to PEOPLE. “Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.”
Theo Wargo/Getty
“To be perfectly honest, from the very beginning we had questions,” Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference after Smollett had been charged.
“When we discovered the actual motive,” said Johnson, “quite frankly it pissed everybody off.”
Two brothers, Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, later issued a public apology for their role in the staged attack, expressing “tremendous regret” for their actions, according to a statement from their attorney.
Abel and Ola Osundairo.Instagram
“My clients have tremendous regret over their involvement in this situation, and they understand how it has impacted people across the nation, particularly minority communities and especially those who have been victims of hate crimes themselves,” the statement read.
Their attorney later said the check they received was meant to cover both the attack and personal training services for Smollett. They also allegedly received $100 from Smollett to buy the ski masks, rope and gloves they were to use in the alleged attack.
The brothers have not been charged.
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Police said several factors helped crack the case.
Police reviewed hundreds of hours of video from surveillance cameras in the area, starting with those focused on the street near the reported incident. The alleged attack itself was not captured, but police quickly obtained and shared images of two men “that we believed were the likely offenders,” he said.
Jerod Harris/Getty
The interim allowed police to issue more than 50 search warrants and subpoenas for phone and other records that showed the men had been in contact with Smollett — including one hour before the alleged attack, one hour afterward, and while they were out of the country, said Johnson.
RELATED VIDEO: Jussie Smollett Allegedly Paid $3,500 to Stage Attack Because He Was Unhappy with Salary: Police
Police met and arrested the men upon their return. But after the men requested an attorney, Gloria Schmidt, “she came to us and after speaking with these two people of interest, she said that something smelled fishy,” said Wodnicki. “She came to me and said, ‘You really need to talk to these guys, I’m going to allow them to give you a video interview with us present and we’re going to have you hear their story. They are not offenders, they’re victims.’”
Wodnicki added: “It was at this time that this investigation started to spin in a completely new direction.”
If Smollett is found guilty, falsifying a police report is a Class 4 felony which carries a potential sentence of up to three years in prison.
After being arrested and quickly posting a bond that allowed his release from jail last month,Smollett returned to the Chicago set ofEmpire, the Fox drama in which he stars as main character Jamal Lyon.
source: people.com
