Actor Jussie Smollett will face trial over his alleged hate crime hoax beginning in late November, after a Chicago judge on Friday denied his lawyer’s Hail Mary pass at getting the case dismissed.
An attorney for the former “Empire” star argued that hauling Smollett into court would amount to a violation of his rights, since he had already performed community service and given up a $10,000 bond as part of a previous on-prosecution agreement with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“A deal is a deal. That’s ancient principle,” attorney Nenye Uche said.
But Judge James Linn disagreed, saying that he would not interrupt the case, which is now being led by a special prosecutor appointed by another judge.
Linn said jury selection in Smollett’s trial would begin on Nov. 29.
The embattled actor, who is black and gay, is accused of lying to police when he reported he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack in downtown Chicago in 2019.
He was charged with filing a false police report when investigators discovered he allegedly paid two brothers to stage a hate crime against him because he was unhappy with his salary.
Those charges were controversially dropped by Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx’s office. A judge then assigned a special prosecutor to the case, who charged Smollett with six new counts of disorderly conduct in Feb. 2020.
Smollett, 39, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
With Post wires