Jussie Smollett’s conviction has been overturned.
Source: Steven Ferdman / Getty
Smollett was convicted for staging a hate crime in December 2021. At the time, a judge sentenced the actor to 150 days in the Cook County jail for five felony charges of disorderly conduct.
The former Empire star claimed that strangers beat him while spewing racist and homophobic remarks. He also said that the brothers, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, poured bleach on him and tied a noose around his neck while yelling that he was in “MAGA country.”
Almost exactly a year ago, the First District Appellate Court rejected Smollett’s appeal in a 2-1 vote, according to Variety. Now, the Illinois Supreme Court has reversed his conviction on due process grounds, arguing that Smollett could not be prosecuted again after his case was previously dismissed.
After Smollett was indicted in 2019 for felony disorderly conduct, the state prosecutor’s office said that it would not move forward with the charges. A special prosecutor was appointed after that, resulting in Smollett being charged again and, this time, convicted. He went on to appeal the case, always maintaining that his allegations were not a hoax. Now, the Illinois Supreme Court has reversed the conviction.
“Today we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants,” the court wrote on Thursday, according to NBC News. “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,” the court wrote, concluding that “a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction.”
The court continued, “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 to the news, Smollett’s attorney, Nenye Uche told TMZ that the actor is not only “very pleasantly surprised,” but “ecstatic,” emphasizing that the court decision was unanimous.
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