Jussie Smollett has been fighting the city of Chicago to dismiss its case against him. However, the actor just got a huge blow by a judge: The case will continue.
See Also: Complete Timeline Of Jussie Smollett Investigation
“Judge Virginia M. Kendall rejected Smollett’s contention that he should not be made to pay $130,000 in police overtime costs, plus $260,000 in damages, because he could not have foreseen how seriously the police would take his hate crime report,” Variety reported Tuesday.
The judge also slammed Smollett’s attorneys for their “attempts to muddy the waters with irrelevant arguments.”
Smollett’s attorney William Quinlan said in a statement after the ruling that he expected that decision.
“The Court today ruled that the City’s case will be decided on the facts and not the pleadings,” Quinlan said. “As you know, in the legal system dismissal on the pleadings is a very high bar and, as a result, the Court’s decision is not surprising. The pleadings are just the city’s side of the story.”
He continued: “Now, Mr. Smollett will get to present his side of the case. Mr. Smollett has always maintained his innocence and is eager to have the complete facts of the case come out. He looks forward to taking depositions and otherwise bringing to light many of the facts that have been overlooked in the court of public opinion to date. Mr. Smollett is confident that once the full story is available he will be vindicated.”
Abel and Ola Osundairo, the Nigerian-American brothers who were allegedly involved somehow in the attack against the now-former “Empire” actor, reportedly met with the special prosecutor’s office in Chicago for a couple of hours.
The last reports on the brothers were that that there were suing for defamation because they felt “alienated” in Chicago and couldn’t get jobs. According to The Chicago Tribune, the lawsuit alleged in part that Smollett’s attorneys “doubled down, not simply affirming that Mr. Smollett was a wholly innocent victim, but that … (the brothers) unequivocally led a criminally homophobic, racist, and violent attack.”
The brothers’ lawsuit complained that Smollett’s Los Angeles-based celebrity attorney Mark Geragos made them “feel unsafe and alienated in their local Chicago community.”
It was reported in April that sources close to the brothers claim they have not been able to land an agent since the Smollett case went public.
Originally, the brothers’ fitness training business was skyrocketing but “many of their potential clients turned out to be feigning interest in getting in shape and were really looking to get details on Jussie’s case.”
It also wasn’t helping that other damning information about the brothers has surfaced. For example, it was reported that Olabinjo Osundairo was charged with attempted murder in 2011. He reportedly reached a plea deal “with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to aggravated battery; he was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $674 fine.”
The last time Abel and Ola Osundairo were in Lagos, it was shortly after the Jussie Smollett attack.
On Jan. 29, while walking to a subway, Smollett claimed two men yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him, investigators told The Hollywood Reporter. They allegedly punched and poured bleach on him while one of the suspects put a rope around his neck. As they fled the scene, Smollett told police they said, “This is MAGA country.”
Kim Foxx, the Cook County State Attorney, has been attacked by the Chicago Police after the 16 felony counts being dropped. Therefore, the special prosecutor’s office has now taken over the case.
Smollett has maintained his innocence.
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