Jussie Smollett's trial
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There is a security video that shows the attack, the same security camera apparently shows the dress rehearsal the night before.
They wanted so badly to believe him.
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Jussie Smollett’s attorneys asked for a mistrial Thursday after the judge called their evidence irrelevant in front of the jury and “physically lunged” at one of the actor’s lawyers.
The odd fracas came in the midst of the defense’s cross-examination of Olabinjo Osundairo, who claims he was paid to help Smollett stage the hate crime, as attorney Tamara Walker grilled him about his alleged homophobia and past derogatory remarks toward suspected gay men.
Osundairo, 30, had just acknowledged he used the word “fruity ass” to refer to a man he suspected was gay and Walker asked if Smollett, who is openly gay, knew he’d said such things in the past.
Judge James Linn called the line of questioning “collateral” in front of the jury, indicating it didn’t have any relevance to the crime Smollett’s on trial for because it was from a past event, prompting Walker to ask for a sidebar.
While the attorneys were conferring with Linn, Walker claimed he “physically lunged” at her when she presented the motion for a mistrial, a claim the justice vigorously denied and was not witnessed by The Post.
“When you said the word mistrial on these grounds frankly I was stunned you’d even consider a mistrial based on this,” Linn said.
Attorney Heather Widell said they had the legal grounds to ask the questions and also accused the judge of visibly “snarling” in front of the jury anytime he sustained an objection from the prosecution and wanted to make sure his non-verbal cues were on the record.
“I’ve noticed snarls multiple times,” Widell said.
The judge took the discussion into his chambers and when he emerged about 10 minutes later and brought the jury back out, he told them to ignore comments he made to the attorneys
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But a gay black man, represented by two black women, lost a case presided by an old white man?
Me/rry/Christmas
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@lufins-dad said in Jussie Smollet's trial:
But a gay black man, represented by two black women, lost a case presided by an old white man?
What was the racial makeup of the jury?
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k said in Jussie Smollet's trial:
@lufins-dad said in Jussie Smollet's trial:
But a gay black man, represented by two black women, lost a case presided by an old white man?
What was the racial makeup of the jury?
Racial makeup? Is that like blackface?
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@89th said in Jussie Smollet's trial:
To be fair, he has more name recognition now. That was an end goal?
Not sure if "fair" is the right word, but Mrs. George commented that the motivation was publicity, of which there is no such thing as "bad."
If he goes to prison (and I doubt he will), perhaps his fame will give him some juice.
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