Jussie Smollett’s attorney says that Smollett is “100 percent confident” he will be cleared by an appeals court on the staged hate crime charges.
Smollett, who claimed that he was attacked by two Donald Trump supporters who tied a noose around his neck and splashed bleach on him while hurling racist and anti-gay insults in 2019, said this after a Chicago criminal court jury delivered a guilty verdict against him.
Nenye Uche, lead attorney for the defense, said that they feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the route we wanted but sometimes that’s the route you have to take to win, especially a case where we remain 100 percent confident in our client’s innocence,” said Uche.
He added that Smollett is a human being and that he is disappointed, but is “very, very proud of him. He’s holding up very strong, he’s committed to clearing his name and he’s 100 percent confident that he’s going to get cleared by the appellate court,” Uche said.
Smollett, who is black and openly gay, claimed that he was a real victim of a hate crime, even after he was accused of staging the attack with brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo to garner attention when racial tensions in the country were erupting massively.
According to prosecutors, Smollett organized the attack by paying $3,500 to the Osundairo brothers and planned out every aspect of the hoax.
But Smollett testified that he paid $3,500 to Abimbola for personal training services while admitting that hours before the attack, he sent four texts about a delayed flight to Abimbola but testified it was because the two planned to work out together that night.
“Jussie was not accused of doing two different things and he was accused of doing one thing, and charged multiple times for the same incident, a jury cannot come out and say guilty of lying, but not guilty of lying. It doesn’t make sense,” Uche said after Smollett was found not guilty on only one of the six counts against him.
Uche also complained about the investigation of the case from the very beginning and how it could have affected the outcome.
“From the first day of this case, his case has been prejudged, his case has been tried in the media, and it’s unfortunate, this is the United States of America, we live in a constitutional democracy where everyone is presumed innocent but obviously, if we’re being honest, that hasn’t been the case,” Uche said, continuing: “But we are confident in our appellate system, we’re confident in our Illinois Supreme Court and we’re confident that at the end of the day, what’s out there in the news media, and in the gossip forums are not going to stand a chance in court.”