Court overturns actor Jussie Smollett’s 2019 conviction in hate crime hoax case

On November 22, 2024By Pranco

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett on charges that he carried out a racist and homophobic attack on himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police.

Smollett’s appeal argued that a special prosecutor should not have intervened after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped the charges. The state’s highest court heard arguments in September.

Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed two men attacked him, shouted racist and homophobic slurs and threw a noose around his neck, sparking a massive search for suspects by Chicago police detectives and causing an international outcry. Smollett appeared in the television drama “Empire,” which was filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.

A jury convicted him in 2021 of five counts of disorderly conduct. Smollett has maintained his innocence.

His attorneys have argued that the case was over when the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped an initial 16 disorderly conduct charges after Smollett performed community service and forfeited a $10,000 bond.

A grand jury reinstated the indictment after a special prosecutor heard the case.

Testimony at his trial revealed that Smollett paid $3,500 to two men he knew from “Empire” to carry out the attack. Prosecutors said he told them what insults to shout, and told them to shout that Smollett was in “MAGA land,” an apparent reference to the slogan of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Smollett testified that “there was no hoax” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.

He was sentenced to 150 days in jail – six of which he served before being released pending appeal – 30 months probation and ordered to pay approximately $130,000 in restitution.

A ruling from the state court of appeals upheld Smollett’s convictionstating that no one had promised Smollett that he would not face further prosecution after accepting the original deal.

His lawyers have argued that Smollett was the victim of a racist and politicized justice system.