Actor Jussie Smollett maintains his innocence following 16-count indictment

Mar 9, 2019

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Jussie Smollett is maintaining his innocence despite being indicted by a grand jury on Friday on 16 separate counts of disorderly conduct.

Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Empire star, released a statement to PEOPLE, on behalf of the actor:

“The fact of an indictment was not unexpected. We knew that there is no way they would expose their evidence to a public airing and subject their witnesses to cross-examination,” Geragos said. He continued, “What is unexpected, however, is the prosecutorial overkill in charging 16 separate counts against Jussie.”

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The actor was charged with 16 counts of disorderly conduct after allegedly filing false police reports. Geragos went on to imply that the charges were simply a “desperate attempt” from the Chicago police department reports the Associated Press.

“This redundant and vindictive indictment is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make headlines in order to distract from the internal investigation launched to investigate the outrageous leaking of false information by the Chicago Police Department and the shameless and illegal invasion of Jussie’s privacy in tampering with his medical records.”

The lawyer added that Smollett “adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption.”

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Although a representative for the Cook County State Attorney has yet to reply, on Wednesday Smollett’s legal team previously claimed that Cook County Sheriff Department was gearing up to launch an “aggressive defense.”

“Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked,” Attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said in a statement given to PEOPLE on Wednesday. “Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense.”

As for Jussie’s 16 counts, the total is a result of the grand jury counting each part of Smollett’s report of an allegedly false hate crime separately.