Judge: Smollett can keep att’y

An Illinois judge on Friday said he would not kick one of Jussie Smollett’s attorneys off the case even though the judge believes the lawyer spoke to two men the actor allegedly hired to help him carry out a staged racist and homophobic attack.

In his ruling, Cook County Judge James Linn took the unusual step of prohibiting Smollett attorney Nenye Uche from questioning the two brothers, Abinbola and Olabinjo Osudairo, should the case go to trial.

Special Prosecutor Dan Webb argued that the alleged conversations between Uche and the brothers in 2019, shortly after Smollett said he was a victim of a hate crime, created a conflict of interest. However Linn found that it was in the court’s interest to allow Smollett to retain his chosen lawyer “when his liberty is at stake,” even if the judge found Webb’s concerns to be legitimate.

The center of the case against Smollett is the $3,500 he allegedly paid the brothers to carry out the January 2019 attack in which the Black, gay actor told police, two masked men attacked him.