Well, here’s some interesting news to kick off your Thursday: Jussie Smollett has avoided the remainder of his 150-day jail sentence for allegedly lying about being beaten by Trump supporters in 2019. This morning, his conviction in that alleged hate crime hoax was officially overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court.
As we previously reported, the “Empire” actor was convicted in December 2021 of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself. As a result, he was sentenced the following year but was released after only six days behind bars while he appealed his case.
Defense attorneys argued that Smollett’s trial violated his Fifth Amendment protections against double jeopardy, especially after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office agreed to drop the original charges against him. Furthermore, a special prosecutor was later assigned to reinvestigate the case and even brought a new indictment against him. However, Smollett’s legal team contended that the special prosecutor should never have been allowed to bring new charges in the first place. Despite the challenges, Smollett has continued to assert his innocence and has committed to pursuing the case. With today’s ruling, it appears he no longer has to fight. The state’s highest court sided with Smollett’s attorneys, reversing his conviction and ordering the case against him dismissed.
“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,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s ruling.
“We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction,” she concluded.
While Smollett has not yet released a statement regarding this update in his case, he did touch on this topic back in September while promoting his new film. He said at the time,
“That was a pretty dark day because that’s when everything clicked to me of what was happening,” Jussie told People about his arrest in comments published on Sept. 28. “A lot of things tested my strength, a lot of things tested my mental, but the one thing I never lost—I never started thinking that I am somebody that I’m not.” He continued, “I’m blessed to continue on and make film and make music and do the things that I was put down here by God to do.”
