Did Jussie Smollett commit perjury?
This month, Jussie Smollett was found guilty of lying to the police. In January 2019, Smollett said as he was leaving a Subway restaurant in the Chicago area around 2:00 a.m., he was attacked by two men. The police believed Smollett staged the attack by hiring two brothers to attack him. It was believed Smollet wanted to draw attention to himself because he was unhappy about how much money he was being paid for appearing on the show Empire. We knew from the beginning Smollett made up the hoax because he described the incident using present tense verbs.
The brothers involved in the incident testified Smollett hired them to stage the attacked. As proof, one of the brothers produced a check in the amount of $3,500 that Smollett had given him. This somewhat forced Smollett to testify in his own defense. Smollett took the stand and testified he paid one of the brothers to help him get in shape. This led Smollett's defense attorney Nenye Uche to ask Smollett the following questions.
"Did you talk to him about some hoax?"
"No."
"Did you give him the check as payment for some silly hoax?"
"Never."
The word never is what I refer to as a unique word that you should listen for. This is because the word never does not mean no. Therefore, you cannot substitute the word never for the word no. Deceptive people will often do this which is what Smollett did. When asked if he gave one of the brothers a check as payment for a hoax, Smollett answered never instead of saying no which would have been the best answer. This lets us know Smollett was being deceptive which is what the jury decided based on all the evidence.
The prosecution didn't mention this in their cross examination of Smollett. I haven't heard any journalists talk about it in their reporting. As I have always said, "People's words will betray them only if someone is listening."
For a full analysis of this case, click here