innocence. during cross-examination, prosecutors asked smolet if he recruited one of the osundairo brothers to fake the attack. to when smollett replied, "as i have said for the past three years. i deny that. that never happened. there was no hoax." smollett admitted he changed his story, first telling investigators his attackers were white, but in later interviews said they were pale skinned. prosecutors asked if smollett thought his story would be more credible if he was attacked by white men. smollett responded, "you would have to ask someone who actually planned a fake hate crime." smollett claims he was assault by two men. brothers ola and abel osundairo testified they were paid $3500 by smollett to carry out the staged attack. supporters of smollett are confident jurors will believe him. >> jusy could easily have copped a plea with a slap on the wrist, and then moved on with his life. but he chose instead to stand up