Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett had his conviction for lying about a fake racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago thrown out by the Illinois Supreme Court on a technicality.
In a shocking twist, the court found that the former “Empire” actor had his Fifth Amendment rights violated by a special prosecutor’s decision to try him after initial charges against him were previously dropped.
It’s the latest turn a case that has captivated the country for nearly six years. Smollett’s lead attorney, Nenye Uche claimed that the devision to prosecute Smollett in the first place was a “travesty of justice.”
Smollett, 42, who is black and gay, claimed two men in Make America Great Again hats assaulted him in the dead of night in January 2019, approaching him out of nowhere in the darkness and declaring “this is MAGA country” before the attack.
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According to Smollet, the men yelled homophobic and racial slurs, put a noose around his neck and doused him with bleach, leading to a massive search for suspects by Chicago police that cost the city more than $130,000.
However, investigators quickly unraveled the elaborate self-victimization ruse, revealing the actor actually hired two brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to stage the attack in a ploy to boost his profile and burnish his tough guy credentials.
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Police later said Smollett admitted to them he plotted the hoax because he was unhappy with his “Empire” salary – which was $100,000 per episode at the time. He was fired following his arrest. He has never publicly admitted to lying, and loudly proclaims his innocence to this day.
The incident garnered extensive national coverage, with nearly every high-profile liberal celebrity and politician rushing to breathlessly post their support for Smollett in a sea of since-deleted tweets.
Smollett was eventually convicted on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police about the details of the bogus attack.
In March 2022, he was sentenced to five months behind bars for conducting what the judge called a “disgraceful” scheme to fake a hate crime, as well as 30 months probation, a $25,000 fine and restitution to the Windy City in the amount of $120,000.
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“You’re not the victim of a racist hate crime, you’re not the victim of a homophobic hate crime, you’re just a charlatan pretending to be the victim of a hate crime and that’s shameful especially,” Judge James Linn said before handing down the sentence.
However, Smollett served just five days before he was released pending an appeal, and has remained free ever since.
The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling rests on a decision by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to drop the charges against Smollettt after she initially hit him with16 felony counts pertaining to the hate crime hoax.
This let the fabulist thespian off the hook — without requiring he admit to any wrongdoing — in exchange for just 16 hours of community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bail.
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The move infuriated Windy City cops, whodemanded her resignationin the wake of the resulting firestorm. Also outraged was then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who called the abrupt about-face by the prosecutors’ office “without a doubt a whitewash of justice.”
After the initial outcry, Foxx recused herself from the case after it came to light that she had exchanged multiple calls and text messages with Smollett’s sister, but questions lingered about her communications with a former aide to Michelle Obama before the charges were tossed.
A special prosecutor was appointed to probe Foxx’s handling of the Smollett case, and a grand jury indicted him on a fresh round of charges in February 2020.
It was those charges that were dismissed by the court.
Speaking to reporters after the unexpected reversal, Smollett’s lawyer Uche claimed that the only reason Smollett was tried and convicted in the first place was due to his notoriety.
“If this was the regular Joe down the street, this case would never even have gone to trial. No prosecutor would have taken this case to trial. It was ridiculous. There was no direct evidence linking him to anything.”
The lawyer’s characterization was swiftly challenged by special prosecutor Dan Webb, who took over the hate crime hoax case after Foxx recused herself.
“Make no mistake: Today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence,” he said in a statement.
“The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial … or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct,” he continued.
“In fact, Mr. Smollett did not even challenge the sufficiency of the evidence against him in his appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.”
Justice Elizabeth Rochford delivered the judgment of the court, writing in her opinion that it “defies credulity” that Smollett “would agree to forfeit $10,000 with the understanding that [Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office] could simply re-indict him the following day.”
The seven-member high court — currently composed of five Democrats and two Republicans — rendered a 5-0 opinion siding with Smollett. Three Democrats and both Republicans on the bench ruled in Smolett’s favor.
State Supreme Court Justices in Illinois are elected by voters for ten-year terms, unless appointed during a mid-term vacancy in which jurists are chosen by the high court itself.
