The ruling followed a remarkable news conference during the police department's superintendent blasted the actor and accused him of staging an elaborate hoax that amounted to a "publicity stunt ... to promote his career."
The weeks-long investigation into the alleged hate crime attack –- an alarming account that sizzled with a spectrum of hot button issues ranging from race, sexuality and politics to crime and celebrity -- riveted and distressed a deeply-divided nation.
Standing before Cook County Circuit Court Judge <person>John Fitzgerald Lyke</person>, <person>Smollett</person> appeared to remain steadfast in his refutation of the felony charge against him. As he did with his fellow actors after the hearing, <person>Smollett</person> has repeatedly insisted that the attack was real and that he was merely a victim, not a perpetrator.
If convicted of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false report, the actor faces up to three years in prison.