Court reverses Jussie Smollett’s conviction
The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the conviction of Jussie Smollett who was accused of filing false reports of a hate crime against him.
The incident at the center of the case happened in 2019 when Smollett said two attackers yelled racist and homophobic slurs before putting a noose around his next, WGN reported.
Smollett was convicted in 2021 of five counts of disorderly conduct for organizing the attack after testimony claimed he paid $3,500 to the two men, whom he knew, to attack him, WGN reported.
The “Empire” actor was sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months of probation and restitution of $130,000. He has served six days of the sentence. He was released pending appeals, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The Cook County state’s attorney had dropped the original 16 charges against Smollett after he performed community service and forfeited his $10,000 bond, but a special prosecutor stepped in and a grand jury restored the charges, The Associated Press reported.
Smollett said there was no hoax and he was a victim.
The actor appealed but the state appellate court upheld the conviction, telling him that no one told Smollett that he wouldn’t be prosecuted after accepting the first deal. But the state’s high court agreed with Smollett and reversed the conviction.
The court wrote: “Today we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants. Specifically, we address whether a dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to bring a second prosecution when the dismissal was entered as part of an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has performed his part of the bargain. We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction.”
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