Jussie Smollett charged with felony for filing a false police report, faces three years in prison

CNN

A Cook County grand jury indicted the Empire star Wednesday night, hours after Chicago police officially named him a suspect in his own attack. The Cook County State’s Attorney's Office charged Smollett with filing a false police report, which is considered disorderly conduct in Illinois and calls for a maximum three years in prison. Disorderly conduct is a Class 4 felony. "Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest," tweeted Chicago police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi. A bail hearing has already been scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Central Time. TMZ reports that brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, whom detectives interviewed last week, "told Grand Jurors they staged the so-called 'attack' at Jussie's behest and even got paid for it. The brothers were caught on camera buying a bunch of supplies before the incident ... including ski masks, gloves, bandanas, sunglasses and red hats." UPDATE: Smollett's attorneys promise 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,” the actor's attorneys Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson tell Deadline. “Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."