CHICAGO (AP) – Jussie Smollett, who was convicted last month for lying to police about a racist, homophobic attack that authorities said he staged, will return to court for sentencing March 10, a judge said Thursday.
Cook County Judge James Linn set the sentencing date in Chicago for the former “Empire” actor, who told the judge he was in New York, during a hearing on Zoom.
Smollett was found guilty by a jury Dec. 9 of five felony counts of disorderly conduct under a subsection of the law that prohibits making false reports to police. He was acquitted on a sixth count.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, maintained throughout the nearly three-year legal battle that he was attacked in downtown Chicago in January 2019 by people who yelled racist and anti-gay slurs and put a noose around his neck. He denied during the trial that he staged the attack.
While the charges carry a possible sentence of three years in prison, legal experts have said Smollett is unlikely to get prison time for the low-level felonies, and is more likely to be sentenced to probation and ordered to perform community service.