Chicago, Ill. — The prosecution and defense provided opening statements Monday night in the criminal case against Jussie Smollett, the former star of the television show Empire who is accused of staging a racist and anti-gay hate crime against himself nearly three years ago.

For such a high-profile case, the criminal stakes for Smollett are pretty low. The 39-year-old actor and musician faces six low-level disorderly conduct charges. If he's found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to three years behind bars, but he could also receive probation and community service. Smollett has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and he has described the court case as a "dog and pony show."

Smollett’s lawyers and the prosecution agreed on just one thing in their opening statements: that just after 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2019, Smollett was attacked by two brothers, Ola and Bola Osundairo, both of whom had worked as either stand-ins or extras on Empire, and whom Smollett knew.

But while special prosecutor Dan Webb provided a detailed account to the jury of how and why Smollett carefully orchestrated the attack against him, Smollett's lead attorney, Nenye Uche, argued that Smollett was not involved in planning the attack at all.

"There was a real crime that occurred against Jussie," Uche said, adding a third person may have been involved. "Jussie Smollett is a real victim. The brothers did not like him."

Webb spoke for over an hour, telling the jury that the entire case stemmed from a hateful letter Smollett received at the Empire studio in Chicago. Webb projected an image of the letter on a screen for the jury. In the letter, a threatening, racist, and homophobic message was spelled out in letters that appeared to have been cut from magazines, and there was a picture of a childishly drawn orange stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun aimed at it.

It's not clear who sent the letter, but Smollett felt like the studio wasn't taking it seriously enough, Webb told the jury. Smollett, he said, devised the fake hate crime, expecting that it would garner media attention and would force the studio to take the threats seriously.

Webb said that Smollett reached out to Bola Osundairo, who he was friends with, and hatched his plan. Bola Osundairo then roped in his brother, who agreed to help.

Webb showed the jury a text message from Smollett to Bola Osundairo about five days before the attack that he said showed that Smollett needed to talk to him in private. "Might need your help on the low? You around to meet up face to face?" the text message read.

Webb said there is surveillance footage of Smollett and the Osundairo brothers making a dry run of the fake attack just days before it was to occur. He showed the jury a copy of a $3,500 check that Smollett paid to Bola Osundairo just before the attack. He showed a photo of the brothers at a store buying the ski masks and a red MAGA-style hat they wore during the attack, and a receipt for the rope they bought to tie around Smollett's neck like a noose.

There are Instagram messages from Smollett to the brothers directing them when to arrive for the attack, Webb said, and he showed the jury a photo of the brothers waiting in below-zero temperatures on a bench near the pre-planned location waiting for Smollett to arrive.

Webb said Smollett was not completely cooperative with investigators, refusing to turn over his cell phone to them, alleging he had concerns about his privacy. Webb said Smollett's real concern was that if police had his cell phone, they would see his messages with the Osundairos.

Both Osundairo brothers are expected to testify during the trial. They are expected to tell the jury that Smollett planned the attack, and coached them to hurl racist and anti-gay epithets at him, to hit him – but not too hard — and to yell out "this is MAGA country," a reference to then-President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

"He developed a secret plan that would make it appear that there was actually a hate crime that occurred against him by supporters of Donald Trump," Webb said of Smollett. "He faked the hate crime, then he falsely reported the fake hate crime."

Uche, who spoke to the jury for about a half hour, focused his attention on the Osundairo brothers. "You're not going to like them," Uche told the jury, describing the brothers as "sophisticated, highly-intelligent criminals."

When investigators searched their Chicago apartment, they found "weapons of war," ammunition, loads of drugs, and multiple cell phones and computers, he said. He said the brothers didn't actually like Smollett, but pretended to.

"To them, Jussie wasn't a friend. He was a mark. He was a target," Uche said.

Uche said the $3,500 check Smollett wrote to Bola Osundairo days before the attack was for meal-planning services. He denied that Smollett was particularly worried about security at the Empire studio after receiving the hateful letter. The evidence, he said, will show that Smollett was not involved in planning the attack. "The only people on camera planning this ridiculous attack are the two brothers," Uche said.

The evidence of a random and senseless attack was sketchy from the start. But for many progressive politicians and prognosticators, the story was just too good to check out, or to at least wait for police to fully investigate. This case – a gay black man, senselessly attacked on the streets of a major U.S. city – seemed to expose the bigotry in Trump's America.

The headlines blared that Smollett has been "brutally attacked" in a "possible hate crime." New Jersey Senator Cory Booker took to Twitter to denounce the "vicious attack" as a "modern-day lynching," an allegation echoed by then-Senator Kamela Harris.

The trial kicked off Monday with jury selection at the massive George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. It is expected to resume on Tuesday morning, and to last about a week.