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Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1

10 Dec

Follow up on the #JussieSmollett trial: special prosecutor Dan Webb says he and his legal team worked this case pro bono. "We made the decision, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it for the public," Webb says.

He also clarifies the one count on which Smollett was found not guilty: it was a count of falsely reporting an aggravated battery. Specifically it was for the report he made to detectives two weeks after his initial report, that his attackers were wearing masks.

The press scrum around Webb is asking if Smollett should face perjury charges for lying on the stand. Webb says he'll bring it up at sentencing, but otherwise doesn't know.

Read 14 tweets

Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1

9 Dec

@CourthouseNews

#BREAKING A verdict has been announced in Jussie #Smollett's criminal trial in Chicago. The verdict will be read shortly. @CourthouseNews

It took the jury over nine hours of deliberation to reach its verdict. The verdict has not yet been read to the courtroom.

We're still waiting in the Cook County Criminal Courthouse for the jury to read the verdict. #JussieSmollett and his family have not yet entered the courtroom.

Read 4 tweets

Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1

8 Dec

Defense beginning its closing arguments in the Jussie #Smollett trial.

Defense attorney Nenye Uche says the "elephant" of assumptions that was present at the start of trial has disappeared, to be replaced by doubt. He claims the prosecution's whole case is a "house of cards" that will crumble when pressured.

Uche says the prosecution's whole case relies on the Osundairo brothers being honest. Uche says they are not honest at all; calls them "the worst kind of criminal." "You have to have your guard up with them," he says.

Read 35 tweets

Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1

8 Dec

Back at Cook County Criminal Courthouse for what should be the last day of Jussie #Smollett's criminal trial for allegedly staging a hate crime. Closing arguments from the lawyers are set for today, then the jury will begin deliberation.

Presiding Judge James Linn says he's not putting any time limits on the lawyers for closing arguments, which means they'll go as long as prosecutors and Smollett's attorneys think they need.

Linn is impressing on the jury that the state has to prove Smollett's alleged guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Read 34 tweets

Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1

7 Dec

Back at the #Smollett trial. A little late this morning because the Cook County bureaucracy gods demanded a sacrfice in the form of an hour of my morning. Jussie Smollett is still on the witness stand. Prosecutor Dan Webb is still cross-examining him.

Webb is asking Smollett if there's any record that he canceled his scheduled morning work out with Abimbola Osundairo, the day after the alleged attack on Jan 29., 2019. Smollett says there isn't; that he was more preoccupied with other things.

Webb asking if Smollett recognized the voices of the people who allegedly attacked him when they shouted slurs at him, specifically if they sounded like the Osundairo brothers. Smollett says he doesn't know. "In that moment, it's not like I'm gonna go, 'Hey Bola, is that you?'"

Read 13 tweets

Dave Byrnes

@djbyrnes1

6 Dec

Cross examination of Jussie Smollett by the state prosecutors now starting. Prosecution asking Smollett if he just said he knowingly withheld useful evidence from the police. Smollett saying he wouldn't know, at least regarding what is "useful" evidence. #Smolletttrial

However, Smollett denies ever lying to the police. "I told them the truth, that I was the victim of a hate crime," he said.

Smollett claims that the news about one of his alleged attackers wearing a MAGA hat was a lie; a leak in the investigation that he says worried detectives as much as himself. Smollett denies ever mentioning a MAGA hat in his initial report to police.

Read 24 tweets

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