Jussie Smollett
(Photo : Reuters)

Two weeks after Jussie Smollett was indicted on felony charges filed against him over the fake hate crime attack that happened in January of last year, the former Empire star is now back in court to plead not guilty.

Smollett also pleaded not guilty in the Illinois Supreme Court to stop the case late last year.

Tina Glandian, the lawyer of Jussie Smollett, filed to the motion of not guilty pleas on behalf of the actor over the recent six new charges of a felony for disorderly conduct. In a published article from the Associated Press, it was reported that the actor was indicted for the second time because of lying to the police about the racist and anti-gay attack that he allegedly staged on himself in Chicago last year.

Fox News reports that prosecutors dismissed the charges filed against the actor last year that angered police and city hall following the not guilty plea of the actor regarding the 16 charges filed against him last year.

Meanwhile, Smollett has denied police allegations that he staged the hate crime attack to get attention and further his career. He will first appear to Chief Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. who will tell him as to which judge will be assigned to preside over his case. The former U.S. attorney, Special Prosecutor Dan Webb, is also expected to attend.

Two things are expected to happen during the appearance of Smollett before Chief Judge Martin. Either he will tell the actor to return on another day for his first hearing to the assigned judge or tell Smollett along with the lawyers to report immediately to the trial judge.

Typically, the accused, or the defendant, like Smollett enter into a not-guilty plea during the initial hearing before the trial judge so that they can set a bond amount to release the accused temporarily from custody.

Most of the time, the lawyers of the accused arrange this at the clerk's office.

The issue with Jussie Smollett made headlines in different news outlets last year after he told the police on January 29, 2019, that two masked men attacked him while he was going home. He told the police that the attackers made racist and homophobic slurs and one of them was a white man who told him that he was in "MAGA Country." MAGA means Make America Great Again and is the slogan of President Donald Trump.

However, just two weeks after the investigation, police alleged Smollett had paid two black friends to help him stage the attack. Moreover, Smollett maintained his innocence over the accusation and told reporters after the charges were dropped that "I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of one drop of what I was accused of." 

Meanwhile, the lawyer of the former Empire actor questioned the integrity of the investigation of the special prosecutor following the new charges that were announced early this month.