On a frigid Chicago night in January 2019, actor Jussie Smollett, a star on the TV drama “Empire,” reported that he was the victim of a hate-motivated street attack, but police later accused him of staging the whole affair as a publicity stunt. The case went to trial on Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, with a jury selected by late afternoon to hear evidence for six felony counts of disorderly conduct accusing Smollett of making false reports to the police. Smollett, 39, has denied that he faked the attack, pleading not guilty in February 2020. The openly gay black actor told police he had been accosted on a darkened street by two masked strangers. According to Smollett’s account, his assailants threw a noose around his neck and poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs and expressions of support for then-President Donald Trump. A month later, police …