Actor Jussie Smollett Found Guilty of Lying to Police in Faking a Hate Crime

Mr. Smollett showed little reaction as the verdicts were read.

The jury deliberated for about nine hours over two days before rendering its verdict.

Mr. Smollett was the star of the hit show “Empire” when he told police that two men had used racist, antigay language and a pro-Trump slogan before hitting and kicking him and placing a noose around his neck around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2019.

Two brothers, who were originally arrested as suspects in the case, became the prosecution’s star witnesses. They testified last week that they believed a $3,500 payment from Mr. Smollett covered diet and fitness training and the staging of a fake hate crime. They said the motive for the hoax was that the producers of “Empire” weren’t taking seriously enough a piece of hate mail Mr. Smollett had received about a week before the attack.

Mr. Smollett took the stand in his own defense, saying that he was happy with the studio and that if anything it was taking the hate mail too seriously by assigning him security that he didn’t want. He also said that he didn’t want to call police about the alleged attack because it would ruin his chances to be taken seriously in future roles playing sports figures or a comic-book hero.

He was originally charged with 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police, but the case was dropped when he agreed to surrender his bail money and do community service.

But a special prosecutor was later named and presented evidence before a grand jury that charged Mr. Smollett with six counts of disorderly conduct. He also faces a civil lawsuit brought by the city of Chicago over overtime it paid detectives working on the case.

Mr. Smollett was fired from “Empire” and said during his testimony that he had failed to find work since. “I’ve lost my livelihood,” he said.

Write to Joe Barrett at joseph.barrett@wsj.com and Ben Kesling at benjamin.kesling@wsj.com