“Did you have any direct communication with Osundairo for money not to testify?” Webb demanded. “Their lawyer or whoever communicated to my people … my lawyers,” Smollett said. Webb seized on that accusation on cross-examination, asking if the brothers had texted or called Smollett about their alleged demand. The 39-year-old actor said Tuesday a representative for the Osundairo brothers had sought a payoff to change their testimony.ĭefense attorney Nenye Uche asked if Smollett was aware the brothers had offered to say the actor was not involved in return for $2 million. The pair testified last week that Smollett masterminded the attack as a publicity stunt. Judge James Linn released the jury around noon, telling them they would return Wednesday to hear closing arguments and then to weigh a verdict on the six counts of disorderly conduct the actor faces.ĭuring testimony that spanned two days of trial, Smollett forcefully and repeatedly denied that he was involved in planning an alleged hoax attack in January 2019 on himself with brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo.
The defense rested its case Tuesday afternoon after the actor spent a tense two hours on the stand, at times getting testy under questioning from Special Prosecutor Dan Webb.
#MEN WITHOUT HATS THE SAFETY DANCE THE COLLECTION TRIAL#
A Cook County jury will likely begin deliberating Wednesday in actor Jussie Smollett’s trial on charges he lied to police about being the victim of an alleged racist and homophobic attack nearly three years ago.