Jussie Smollet will be sentenced for lying to police in his widely-publicized hate crime hoax trial. This comes three months after the "Empire" actor was convicted on five counts of felony disorderly conduct and acquitted of a sixth.
Smollett is facing three years in prison for the crimes, but criminal experts suspect that Jussie will not go to prison due to his clean criminal record and the non-violent nature of his charges. Smollett's attorneys are hopeful that the actor will be given a retrial, or his conviction will be overturned, as they argue that a series of errors were made during the trial. Smollett's attorneys argued the same points after prosecutors rested their case, but the judge stated that there was "ample evidence" to move forward.
Nenye Uche, Smollett’s attorney, has already stated that he plans to appeal the conviction, adding that he's "100 percent certain" it’ll be overturned.
Ahead of his sentencing, Smollett's supporters have written the judge to ask for leniency in sentencing. Some of the supporters include NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actress Alfre Woodard, and actor Samuel L. Jackson and his wife and fellow actress LaTanya Richardson Jackson.
More details to come.
Source: CBS
