Disgraced “Empire” star Jussie Smollett just got some good news today when it was revealed that the brothers who claim they were paid to stage a hate crime against him are refusing to testify against the actor.

Fox News reported that brothers Abel and Ola Osundario told police in 2019 that Smollett paid them $3,500 to jump him on a street in Chicago while hurling racist and homophobic slurs at him, just to raise his profile so he could secure a raise on his show. Though the brothers initially cooperated with law enforcement and agreed to testify against Smollett, they have since changed their minds because of the way police have handled evidence that they took from their home last year.

Gloria Schmidt Rodriguez, the lawyer representing the Osundarios, told CBS 2 in Chicago that they have changed their minds about testifying because they believe officers with the Chicago Police Department are withholding some of the things they seized from their home.

“It’s been over a year and they need to give us our stuff back,” Abel said. “I would understand if we were defendants in the case, which we are not.”

The items that the Osundario brothers say police have yet to return include a 9mm gun and ammunition that Abel owned legally. He has since filled a police report, and both brothers are in an administrative dispute with the police department to try and get their items back.

Smollett is currently facing six charges related to him allegedly filing a false police report about his fake hate crime. Though all charges against him were dismissed last year, a special prosecutor has since refiled charges against him.

Earlier this month, Cook County Judge James Linn shot down Smollett’s attempts to have his new charges dismissed due to double jeopardy laws, ruling that those don’t come into play here.

“There was no trial in this case, there was no jury empaneled, no witnesses were sworn, no evidence was heard, no guilty pleas were ever entered … nothing like that ever happened,” Judge Linn said of last year’s case. “There was no adjudication of this case.”