Things have been pretty quiet surrounding the Jussie Smollett scandal lately, but a Chicago grand jury has changed all of that. Jussie has been indicted on 16 felony counts for falsely reporting a hate crime.
According to CBS Chicago:
The grand jury returned the disorderly conduct charges on Thursday. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 14. The specific allegations–“false report of offense”– are Class 4 felonies.
“Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” according to the indictment.
The indictment expands the case against the actor. The counts focus on allegedly false statements he made to two different Chicago Police officers. Each count covers various alleged acts that Smollett falsely described to the officers–including that he was hit by two men, that they yelled racial and homophobic slurs and poured a chemical on him.
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said Smollett, if convicted could face probation to up to three years in prison.
“[The grand jury] decided he told multiple lies,” Miller said. “There were going to charge him for each.
Whew. Jussie might just want to come clean at this point.
