Jussie Smollett awaits verdict as jurors consider case
CTV
Jurors in Jussie Smollett's trial are expected to resume deliberations Thursday on charges the former 'Empire' actor orchestrated a fake attack on himself, then lied to Chicago police about being the victim of an anti-gay, racist hate crime.
The jury deliberated for about two hours on Wednesday following a roughly one-week trial. They asked Judge James Linn for a copy of a calendar prosecutors displayed at trial that indicated relevant dates, including that of the alleged attack and of what two brothers testified was a "dry run" for the Jan. 29, 2019, assault.
In closing arguments earlier Wednesday, a prosecutor told jurors there is "overwhelming evidence" that Smollett staged the attack, then lied to police about it for publicity. His defence attorney said prosecutors' case was based on lies.
Two brothers testified last week that Smollett recruited them to fake the attack near his home in downtown Chicago. They said Smollett, who is Black and gay, told them to put a noose around his neck, yell racist and homophobic slurs, and rough him up in view of a surveillance camera.
Smollett testified that he was the victim of a real hate crime, telling jurors "there was no hoax. " He called the brothers "liars" and said the US$3,500 check he wrote them was for meal and workout plans. His attorneys argued that the brothers attacked the actor because they are homophobic and that they made up the story about the attack being staged but said they wouldn't testify against Smollett if he paid them each $1 million.
'Documents are fraudulent': Graceland is not for sale, Elvis Presley's granddaughter says in lawsuit
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
As Saudi Arabia liberalizes some aspects of its society Seera, an all-women psychedelic rock band that blends traditional Arabic melodies with the resurgent psychedelia of bands like Tame Impala, represents the way women now are finding their voice and expressing themselves through the arts in a nation long associated with ultraconservative Islam and the strict separation of the sexes.