Jussie Smollett found guilty on 5 felony counts
The jury deliberated for more than nine hours in the former "Empire" star's case before coming back with the guilty verdicts.
A Chicago jury found actor Jussie Smollett guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for making fraudulent reports to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in January of 2019.
Smollet was accused of staging the hate crime and charged, though he continued to plead his innocence when testifying before the jury.
After deliberating for more than nine hours, the 12-person jury came back with a verdict of guilty, opting to believe the testimony of brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, who had claimed Smollett had paid them to stage the attack in an attempt to generate sympathetic media coverage.
Each Class 4 felony count is punishable by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Cook County Judge James Linn will oversee sentencing at a later date.
This is a developing story.
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