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https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jussie-smollett-trial-court-working-with-media-fit-in-courtroom

jizzie Smollett trial: Court 'working with media' on how to 'fit in courtroom'

The former 'Empire' star is accused of falsifying a hate crime attack against himself

By Jessica Napoli | Fox News

Jury selection for Jussie Smollett's disorderly conduct trial has commenced in Chicago, but as of Monday, cameras and members of the press are not allowed inside the courtroom.

According to a Fox News reporter on the ground, the court is now "working with the media" to strategize how the press "will fit inside the courtroom." According to the reporter, the press is sitting in the hallway and can see inside the courtroom, but the audio is hard to decipher.

Judge James Linn is presiding over the case. Because of guidelines present to help stop the spread of COVID-19, Judge Linn decided that seating within the courtroom must be reserved for potential jurors.

However, the courtroom will reportedly keep its doors open to provide some insight to the public as to what’s going on inside, provided that does not become a disruption. It’s expected that, once the jury is selected, there will be more room for reporters and cameras to film or stream the proceedings.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT TRIAL: JUDGE ORDERS NO CAMERAS, PRESS IN COURTROOM DURING JURY SELECTION

Smollett contends he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in downtown Chicago on January 29, 2019. However, siblings Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who worked with him on "Empire," say he paid them $3,500 to pose as his attackers.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT Published 48 mins ago

https://abc7chicago.com/jussie-smollett-chicago-trial-news-lawyer/11279713/

FALSE REPORT

Jussie Smollett trial begins nearly 3 years after alleged fake attack with opening statement Monday

Jussie Smollett charges: Felony disorderly conduct charge could carry up to 3-year sentence

By Diane Pathieu and Leah Hope Monday, November 29, 2021 5:33PM

CHICAGO (WLS) – Jussie Smollett's trial began Monday, nearly three years after the former "Empire" actor reported he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack in Chicago.

By 4:30 p.m., 12 jurors and three alternates had been seated. Opening statements were set to start at 4:45 p.m. The trial is expected to last about a week.

The actor is facing charges for what authorities say was a fake attack. Smollett told police he was walking home early in the morning back in January of 2019 when two men recognized him and began hurling racial and homophobic slurs at him.

He said the men struck him, wrapped a moose around his neck and shouted, "This is NIGGA country."

Jury chosen for actor Jussie Smollett’s trial, with opening statements set for this afternoon

By MEGAN CREPEAU and JASON MEISNER CHICAGO TRIBUNE | NOV 29, 2021 AT 4:13 PM

''A jury has been selected for the trial of former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, who is accused of commissioning a fake hate crime on himself to boost his career.''

Judge James Linn set opening statements in the case for 4:45 p.m. Monday.

Those selected for the panel included a woman who says she’s watched “Empire” before and likes to drag race in her spare time, a man who emigrated from Iraq 12 years ago and works for a credit union, and a woman from west suburban Bartlett who’s a counselor at a behavioral hospital.

Another juror, a man from Lincoln Park who appears to be in his 30s, works in the health care information field. Also selected was a man originally from Canada who manages a store and man who appears to be in his 60s and works in sales.

Linn has said he may let evidence continue until 7 p.m. before recessing for the day.

Trial of Jussie Smollett, accused of lying to police about an alleged hate crime, opened Monday with jury selection

–

By Jason Hanna, CNN Updated 6:00 PM ET, Mon November 29, 2021–

(CNN)The long road in the Jussie Smollett case finally reached trial Monday in Chicago, more than two years after police first alleged the actor lied about being the victim of a hate crime and wrongfully diverted weeks of investigative manpower.

The former "Empire" actor, who is Black and gay, has repeatedly denied staging an attack on himself, insisting two men struck him, yelled anti-gay and racist remarks, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him on a cold January 2019 night in the Windy City.

Authorities have argued evidence, including texts and accounts from two Smollett acquaintances, point to Smollett paying the pair to rough him up, so he could attract publicity and a career boost – a narrative Smollett has denied.

A 12-person jury was selected in just over six hours Monday for the trial, in which Smollett, 39, is charged with six counts of disorderly conduct on suspicion of making false reports to police. He has pleaded not guilty.

Opening statements began after the jury was seated.

A disorderly conduct charge for a false crime report is a Class 4 felony in Illinois, punishable by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine. A judge would determine whether convictions on multiple counts would yield sentences to run concurrently or consecutively.

It once looked like this case wasn't going to trial. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office unexpectedly dropped Smollett's first set of charges also disorderly conduct in March 2019 after he performed community service and agreed to forfeit the $10,000 bond he paid.

But the decision set off debate over whether Smollett had received preferential treatment, leading a judge to appoint a special prosecutor, former US Attorney Dan K. Webb, to look into it in August 2019.

The new investigation led to a second grand jury, which in February 2020 indicted Smollett on the current charges. Smollett's attorneys tried to dismiss the case on grounds this was double jeopardy

– but Cook County Judge James Linn rejected this, because Smollett hadn't been tried.

The trial begins to wrap a case that captivated a nation for weeks in pre-pandemic times, and has been anything but a boon to Smollett's acting career.

After friends and fans and Hollywood rallied around Smollett, horrified that anyone would so brazenly attack him, support shrank and many turned on him when police alleged he staged it. Smollett's character was written out of the Fox drama "Empire," and though he has since directed and produced a film, he's yet to appear in another TV or film acting role.

The staging allegations also led some to lament it might unfairly cast doubt on future victims of hate crimes.

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https://www.businessinsider.com/faa-accidentally-released-jeffrey-epsteins-flight-records-2021-10

The FAA ''accidentally ''disclosed more than 2,000 flight records associated with Jeffrey Epstein's private jets

Angela Wang Angela Wang 6 hours ago

Insider requested all flight-history data associated with four planes owned by Jeffrey Epstein.

The FAA rejected the request but later provided the records in response to an unrelated request.

The new FAA records include hundreds of previously unknown flights made by Epstein's jets.

They corroborate Insider's reporting on Epstein's travel patterns as documented in court records and flight-signal data.

A searchable database now contains 2,618 flights made by Epstein's private jets from 1995 to July 6, 2019.

In January 2020, Insider asked the Federal Aviation Administration for all the agency's flight records, including departure and arrival data, associated with a fleet of private jets owned by Jeffrey Epstein. Filed under the Freedom of Information Act, our request seemed to have a decent chance of success: The agency in 2011 released its entire database of US-based flights to The Wall Street Journal.

In March 2020, however, the FAA denied our request, saying that "the responsive records originate from an investigative file" and were therefore exempt from disclosure. The agency cited Exemption 7(A), which Congress designed to shield records that were "compiled for law enforcement" and "could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceeding." The FAA did not specify which enforcement proceeding the records might interfere with; Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's ex-girlfriend and confidante, faces a trial over sex-trafficking charges this month.

But despite its original denial, the FAA inadvertently mailed Insider a portion of Epstein's flight records alongside correspondence for an unrelated FOIA request earlier this year. The records contained data on 2,300 flights among four private jets registered to Epstein between 1998 and 2020. Most of them had appeared in Insider's searchable database of all known flights connected to Epstein.

The new FAA records also reveal 704 previously unknown flights taken by Epstein's planes. These include hundreds of trips from a three-year gap in the public record, from 2013 to 2016, when the jets' movements were unaccounted for.