Black juror in Jussie Smollett trial found one behavior suspicious: 'It didn't add up'

The only Black juror on the panel during Jussie Smollett's trial found the fact the actor kept the noose around his neck suspicious. Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson previously echoed the same suspicion.

"As an African American person, I'm not putting that noose back on at all," Andre Hope told WLS-TV. At trial, Smollett testified that after the attack in downtown Chicago in January 2019, he returned home and put the rope back around his neck so police who came to his apartment soon after could see it.

Hope was not the only Black person who struggled with Smollett's use of such a potent symbol of racism in the U.S. to convince authorities he was the victim of a hate crime.