GUILTY IL - Actor Jussie Smollett allegedly attacked in hate crime, Jan 2019 #6 *GUILTY*

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

"Smollett says it was "weird" that Ola was with them and he had an interview set up so he decided to just scrap the workout plan. He seems impatient with Webb's repeated questions about whether he's denying planning the hoax. "

"Webb shows surveillance video of Smollett's car circling the area where the attack occurred.
"You mean the intersection directly across from my garage?" Smollett retorts. Webb tries to get him to agree he went past three times.
"I can’t tell you how many times it was," he says. "

"Webb: Do you have any reason to disagree with police testimony that you passed by the intersection three times?
Smollett: I don’t know. I circled around the block. Webb: How long were you there?
Smollett: Well you have the surveillance, you have to tell me. It was three years ago "

 

[IzzyBlanche]

FWIW I was completely unimpressed with Webb during the Shacknai trial. He seemed ill-prepared and disorganized to me.

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

"Webb asks Smollett about Instagram messages sent to Osundairo from NYC.
A: Mr. Webb, all due respect you don’t understand Instagram.
Webb: Look at me. I’m old. I don’t understand Instagram. Just answer my question.
Smollett accuses Webb of "misrepresenting" things to the jury "

"Testy back and forth going on here, with Webb interrupting Smollett and asking the judge to strike his answers as non-responsive. Judge Linn tells Smollett to listen to the question and don't ad lib. This is all over whether the Instagram messages were public or sent only to Bola "

"Webb shows him the next Instagram message: This is the second time you updated him about your flight status?
Smollett: Out of context, yes sir
Webb: I’m sorry, what?
A: Yes
Webb: Did you answer yes?
Smollett: Yes

Webb reads a text from Smollett with the word "" and Smollett stops him and asks him not to say it out loud, "out of respect for every African American in the courtroom." Webb apologizes, says why don't you read it instead. "Apology accepted but that’s been used a lot."

 

[maggieg]

So let me understand the logic of what the defense is trying to present, the Osundairo's wait around outside Jussie's building in the cold on the off chance he might leave that night in order to beat him up so that he might hire one of them as his bodyguard but they also leave the country on a planned trip several days later? If someone is doing that in the hopes of getting hired, there is no way they are leaving the country several days later. Also if I'm trying to get hired as a bodyguard, I am sure as hell beating him up so badly that he's bloody and bruised. Also if I want to make sure you leave your house why do I tell you to have eggs, why not give something specific like you need to make sure you have a tuna sandwich, get the one from the subway near your building.

Jussie doesn't want any attention, hates attention but also posts a selfie from the hospital right after the attack, appears on stage talking about the attack and then goes on to do a tv interview claiming to be pressured because he was on a network TV show but gave the interview to ABC when he was on a Fox show?

He was so uncomfortable with Ola but also picked him up and drove him around?

Jussie has had years to firm up his lies, you'd think he'd have all the holes in his story worked out

 

[Kristin Esq.]

JS seems very hostile today on the witness stand.

 

[EGirl]

JS seems very hostile today on the witness stand.

Oh to be a fly on the wall!

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

Another update message to Bola with the N-word. Webb says, "Why don you read it? I don’t want to mispronounce anything." Smollett reads the text in question: "N---- finally made it just landed haha" Smollett was attacked less than two hours later.

"We are now on to the attack. Webb asks if he's denying that Smollett told Osundairo to do it right at the intersection near his building at 2 a.m.
Smollett: I’m saying that that’s a bold faced lie, yes. You just happened to be there?
A: It's difficult to answer with a yes or no "

Webb and Smollett now squabbling over whether he really believed the Walgreens was open 24 hours. Smollett: How would I know that, Mr. Webb? I was not frequenting Walgreens in the morning for eggs. ...I’m under the impression that drug stores are 24 hours. "

The entire tone of this cross is 180 degrees from yesterday. Smollett is on the defensive, annoyed. Webb keeps pressing him about the eggs. Smollett launches into a lengthy answer about diet and cleanses and such.
Webb: "Sir do you even remember what my question was?"

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

Webb asks if there were any messages with Osundairo mentioning a workout the night of the attack.
Smollett: No, but there’s also no messages about an attack and I’m on trial for an attack that I didn't do. Webb moves again to strike as non-responsive.

"When Linn directs Smollett to answer the question, Jussie turns to the judge and says "I’m just concerned about answering yes or no." "Please, please," Linn says. "It’s the same for all witnesses, it’s not personal to you. The lawyer asks questions, you answer them."

Webb: Didn't you recognize Bola's voice when he yelled out "Empire n-----" during the attack?
Smollett: In that moment, I’m not going to stop and say hey Bola is that you? It was an attack. It happened fast. "

Webb: Do you doubt the Osundairo brothers' testimony that they're the ones seen on surveillance? Smollett: I doubt every word that they say.
Webb: So is that them?
Smollett: I just don’t know. They’re liars, so.. they also said I had something to do with it and that’s not true. "

 

[Kristin Esq.]

I'm surprised he asked requested of the judge to treat this witness as a hostile witness.

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

Smollett seems exasperated when asked if he testified his attackers "sounded" white. "I never would say that they acted or sounded white." He says he made the "assumption" that they were. "That would be racist to say that someone acted white or sounded white."

Webb still questioning Smollett on his description of one of his attackers as white. Smollett acknowledges he later changed that to "pale." "I didn’t want to make the assumption that they were white. So I said let me change that and just say that they were pale skinned."

Smollett said it was the "responsible thing" to change his description. "They could’ve been a white person, they could have been a pale someone else."
Webb: Did you say 'white' to get more attention? Smollett: You'd have to ask someone who actually did a fake hate crime. "

 

[shotgun09]

JMO here, but it seems as if JS's hostile, smarmy and snarky answers will not come across as positive attributes towards the jury.....

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

Very subtle but important point raised by Webb in all of this: After all their supposed planning over this delayed workout, there wasn't a single text message or call between Smollett and Osundairo the morning after the attack saying it had to be canceled.

Smollett upset after Webb asks him if "getting a few bruises" was really a big blow to his career. "Mr. Webb, I have a scar under my eye that looks like a bag for the rest of my life," as well as a "black circle" on his face, Smollett retorts. "It’s absolutely a problem."

Webb then shows Smollett an image of him from the Robin Roberts interview a couple weeks after the attack. Smollett asks Webb if he knows what a Hollywood interview is like and that he was in makeup that "makes me look much better." Webb's just letting him take the bait. "

Webb appears to be done with his cross. We're on a quick break.

 

[khaki]

https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

Very subtle but important point raised by Webb in all of this: After all their supposed planning over this delayed workout, there wasn't a single text message or call between Smollett and Osundairo the morning after the attack saying it had to be canceled.

Smollett upset after Webb asks him if "getting a few bruises" was really a big blow to his career. "Mr. Webb, I have a scar under my eye that looks like a bag for the rest of my life," as well as a "black circle" on his face, Smollett retorts. "It’s absolutely a problem."

Webb then shows Smollett an image of him from the Robin Roberts interview a couple weeks after the attack. Smollett asks Webb if he knows what a Hollywood interview is like and that he was in makeup that "makes me look much better." Webb's just letting him take the bait. "

Webb appears to be done with his cross. We're on a quick break.

Excellent point about the fact that there were no texts the next morning.

I am surprised Jussie is allowed to be such a smart mouth with the prosecuter.

Hopefully, his performance here in court is his last acting gig.

Two men, regardless of race, roaming through the streets of downtown Chicago at 2am in the dead of a freezing winter night shouting this is MAGA country rings false with most Chicagoans, IMO. Hopefully , members of the jury are among them.

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

We are back at the #Smollett trial. Webb confirms he's finished his cross. Attorney Nenye Uche is on redirect.

Who is Dan Webb? Meet the special prosecutor appointed to the Jussie Smollett case.

chicagotribune.com

Uche asking if Ola had shown up uninvited before, Smollett says yes, many times. "Let me clarify... uninvited by me," he says. "

Smollett testifies that "tons" of his Instagram followers got his Instastory messages. Uche trying to reinforce that he was not giving Abel Osundairo private updates about his flight status on the night of the attack.

Smollett says he even posted the weather on his Instagram so followers could see that the "Winter Vortex" was coming. I've noticed that in the past few mentions of it, "Polar Vortex" has morphed into "Winter Vortex" Can we get a ruling, Mr. Skilling?

Uche asks if the Osundairo brothers reached out to him after the incident and said they'd tell the truth "that there was no hoax" if he gave them each $1 million.
Smollett: Correct.
Q: Did you give them the money?
A: No.

 

[Seattle1]

I'd never heard of JS before this alleged incident and I have to say that I'm finding every bit of his testimony insulting to human beings.

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

Q: The FBI accused you of sending the threatening letter?
Smollett: No, Eddie Johnson did.
Objection and move to strike from prosecutors. Linn sustains and again instructs Smollett to answer only the question asked. He also stops Uche from asking about CPD leaks.

** My note: Eddie Johnson was the CPD chief at the time, and he clearly wasn't buying what Jussie was selling. **

"In case anyone on here is wondering, no one has ever been charged with sending that letter. The FBI had it analyzed and as of last year was still calling it an "ongoing criminal investigation."

"Uche is done with redirect. Webb back up, asking about when Smollett gave the FBI his DNA. He says it was five or six months after the attack, and he never offered to give it to CPD "

"Webb finishes by asking about the alleged $2 million payment. Smollett says it wasn't a direct ask. "Their lawyer or agent or agency communicated to my people. To my lawyers."

Smollett is off the stand

Next witness is the Uber driver who was called by the Osundairo brothers on the night of the attack to pick them up at 4139 N. Ashland Ave.

ETA: My note about Eddie Johnson

 

[khaki]

I'd never heard of JS before this alleged incident and I have to say that I'm finding every bit of his testimony insulting to human beings.

Same!
Never heard of him or the show.
He is so full of himself. He exploits so many of our country's hot buttons with such disregard. What a fool.

 

[mickey2942]

Charge Smollett with perjury next.

 

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https://twitter.com/jmetr22b

"At the end of Smollett's testimony, Webb moved to strike anything about the $2 million, saying the question had been "disguised" in redirect and he would have objected. Linn said too late to strike, but advised jury that they can decide what weight, if any, to give it.

"Driver says he saw the brothers whispering but he does not know if one of them was on the phone. (defense has posited that brothers had phones even though Smollett purportedly told them not to bring them). He says they changed the destination after they got in. "

"When people start talking or they change destination they are not on the same page," the cab driver, whose name I did not catch, says. At one point they saw a cab and said to stop and jumped out of his car, he says. "

This Uber driver may be the defense's last witness.

JUST IN: Lawyers for #JussieSmollett have rested their case.

#JussieSmolllett prosecutors say they have no rebuttal. Lawyers are going to make closing arguments Wednesday morning and the jury will get the case.

 

[katydid23]

JS seems very hostile today on the witness stand.

Yes, I am wondering if he felt extra confident this morning because the cross yesterday started out so soft and slow?