A judge in Cook County, Ill., has denied the latest attempt by actor Jussie Smollett to dismiss the case in which he is charged with lying about an alleged street assault against him.
Judge James Linn also ruled there will be no cameras allowed in the courtroom in the trial scheduled to start Nov. 29, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Regarding the dismissal request, Smollett’s lawyer argued that the actor had entered into an agreement with the state’s attorney that charges would be dropped if he paid a fine and completed community service, which he has done.
Smollett, who is Black and gay and who starred on TV’s “Empire,” claimed that two masked white men jumped him on a Chicago street in January 2019, hurling racial and homophobic slurs at him.