After Jussie Smollett sent to jail for 150 days for hate crime hoax, defiant family maintains he's innocent; 'it was a complete frameup'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in Cook County Jail for his hate crime hoax conviction, both he and his family angrily maintained his innocence.
Smollett repeatedly shouted "I am innocent, and I am not suicidal" after learning his fate.
"If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years, and the fears of the LGBT community," Smollett told the judge from the defense table after he was sentenced. "Your honor, I respect you, and I respect the jury, but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal, and if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that. I respect you, your honor, I respect your decision."
In December, a Cook County jury found Smollett guilty of five of six counts of disorderly conduct, while acquitting him of the sixth count. Prosecutors had accused Smollett of paying two brothers – Abel and Ola Osundairo – to help him stage a fake racist and homophobic attack against himself in January 2019, and then lying to police about it, in a bid for publicity. The Osundairo brothers were the key witnesses against him at trial, and Judge James Linn said Smollett clearly used them as his "patsies."
But After the hearing, Smollett's family continued to claim Smollett really was the victim of a hate crime attack, with his 92-year-old grandmother Molly, who spoke on his behalf at the sentencing hearing, calling the case "a complete frameup."
"We have to stop young, Black men from being abducted into the prison system," she said.
She also criticized the media's coverage of the case.
"You guys gotta do more investigative reporting. More investigation, okay?" she said.
Smollett's older sister, Jazz, said their assertion that he is innocent "should not be a controversial statement, because it is the absolute truth.
"What should be controversial is the entire miscarriage of justice this whole ordeal has been. I pray peace over my brother. I pray the peace of God over my brother, and all victims of oppression and hate. I pray that we can do better as a world," she said.
Smollett's older brother, Joe, who spoke on his behalf at the sentencing hearing, said they are "very disappointed" with Judge Linn's decision to send Smollett to jail.
"I did not expect him to be completely lenient," Joe said. "At the same time, he shamed my brother. He spoke about his arrogance. He doesn't know the struggles my brother is encountering. He doesn't know anything that he's dealing with. He doesn't know anything that he's dealing with. He spent all that time shaming him. In 2022, we don't shame people like this, alright? He basically called him a mental case."
Smollett's youngest brother, Jocqui, said his brother does not deserve to be behind bars.
"I watched my brother go from being a complete victim, which he still is, he was attacked, and he is now going to jail for being attacked. I saw my brother get locked up within two weeks for being attacked. Do you know how crazy that is?" he said. "They want to say in that court, and say that he's the reason why people aren't going to report hate crimes? They're the reason why folks aren't going to report hate crimes. None of y'all believed it."
"It is not his fault that folks are not going to believe survivors anymore," he said.