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Jussie Smollett’s conviction over his 2019 hoax attack claim has now been overturned by the Supreme Court of Illinois.
The former Empire actor made headlines around the world when he told police officers he had been attacked in Chicago, alleging two men yelled homophobic and racist slurs at him, and put a noose around his neck.
Officials later accused the 42-year-old of paying the two men to carry out the 2019 attack – initially, the charges against him were dropped after he forfeited his $10,000,
However, things took a turn when a special prosecutor refiled the charges in 2020, leading to Smollett being convicted the following year and being sentenced to 150 days in jail.
Today, the Supreme Court announced that his conviction has been overturned after finding that his rights were violated when the charges were pursued despite having already been dropped.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the court opinion reads: ‘We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust.
‘Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the State was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.’
In response, special prosecutor Dan K Webb issued a statement to Metro, which read: ‘We are disappointed in the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision today to overturn Jussie Smollett’s convictions and sentence, including the award of over $120,000 in restitution to the City of Chicago for its overtime expenses in investigating Mr Smollett’s fake hate crime.
‘We respectfully disagree with the Court’s factual and legal reasoning which upends long-standing Illinois precedent. Indeed, the Special Prosecutor’s brief to the Illinois Supreme Court was replete with Illinois case law that would not preclude a second, new prosecution following a dismissal without prejudice via nolle prosequi.
‘Even the Illinois Supreme Court agreed in its opinion that its holding today was not explicit in earlier Illinois decisions.’
‘Make no mistake – today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr Smollett’s innocence,’ it continued.
‘The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct.
‘In fact, Mr Smollett did not even challenge the sufficiency of the evidence against him in his appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.
‘Despite today’s ruling, the City of Chicago remains able to pursue its pending civil lawsuit against Mr Smollett in order to recoup the over $120,000 in overtime expenses the Chicago Police Department incurred for investigating Mr. Smollett’s fake hate crime.
‘Today’s ruling does not change how deeply proud I am of the work my Special Prosecutor’s office accomplished; nor does it undermine the jury’s verdict, and most importantly, it does not clear Jussie Smollett’s name – he is not innocent.’
In 2019, Smollett alleged that he had been attacked by two men wearing ski masks in Chicago, claiming that they told him he was in ‘MAGA country’ and put a noose around his neck.
He was later arrested and accused of paying the two men to carry out the attack, but he has always maintained his innocence.
After a bombshell court trial, Smollett was convicted in 2021 and jailed the following year – he spent six days behind bars of his 150 sentence, and was ordered to pay a fine of $145,000.
Last December, he lost an appeal over the conviction when the Illinois Appellate Court decided to uphold the conviction.
At the time, it was ruled that he wasn’t denied due process in his legal battles, and that ‘re-prosecuting was not fundamentally unfair’, with the decision announced after a 2-1 vote.
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