Jussie Smolett’s Family Claims Chicago Police ‘Absolutely Mishandled’ Case Against Former ‘Empire’ Star

etcanada.com:

The family of Jussie Smollett are speaking out. During an hour-long virtual event on Friday, the former “Empire” star’s siblings Jazz Smollett, Jocqui Smollett and Joel Smollett met with a group of Los Angeles-based journalists. READ MORE: Court Orders Jussie Smollett Released From Jail During Appeal Alongside defence attorney Heather Widell, the actor’s family said “there’s no verifiable evidence” that Smollett lied about being assaulted in an alleged hate crime, People reported. “Our main focus right now is making sure that the media understands that the narrative that Jussie is lying, that he committed perjury in any way, or that his story fell apart is just patently not correct,” Widell said. “We have independent witnesses who completely and unequivocally corroborate Jussie’s story of what he saw that night.” The attorney didn’t elaborate on the identities of the witnesses supporting Smollet’s account.

On Jan. 29, 2019, Smollett told Chicago police that two men beat him, doused him with bleach, and wrapped a rope around his neck after he exited a Subway sandwich shop late at night.

He alleged that the assailants yelled “racial and homophobic” at him and shouted, “this is MAGA country,” in reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. READ MORE: Taraji P.

Henson Compares Jussie Smollett To Emmett Till, Calls To Free Him A pair of brothers were arrested two weeks later, and police alleged that Smollett had paid them $3,500 to carry out the attack in what they said was hoax. “’Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career,” then-Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson said at the time, claiming that he staged the hoax “dissatisfied