Jussie Smolett trial begins with actor’s defense insisting case was ‘tremendous rush to judgment’

After years of controversy and roller-coaster twists and turns, the trial of Jussie Smollett began Monday with prosecutors alleging the actor faked a hate crime that grabbed the nation’s attention and the defense calling that a “fantasy.”

Smollett’s alleged fakery, special prosecutor Dan Webb told jurors, was not just a crime — it was a despicable act that denigrated victims of actual hate crimes.

But it was Smollett who was in fact the real victim, his defense alleged in opening statements, the victim of a “tremendous rush to judgment” that ruined his career and reputation, defense attorney Nenye Uche said.

And the prosecutors’ star witnesses, brothers who told police they helped Smollett fake the attack, are opportunistic liars who hated Smollett “because of who he is as a person,” Uche said.

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