Illinois’ highest court on Thursday overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction of lying to Chicago police after he staged a phony hate crime six years ago.
The Illinois Supreme Court threw out the conviction after Mr. Smollett appealed a special prosecutor’s decision to pursue the case after charges were initially dropped by the Cook County state’s attorney.
That attorney dismissed the charges against Mr. Smollett, 42, following his agreement to forfeit a $10,000 bond and perform community service.
The former “Empire” actor’s attorneys argued the special prosecutor’s 2021 charges — which resulted in multiple disorderly conduct convictions — qualified as double jeopardy, given the matter was settled during Mr. Smollett’s prior arrangement with prosecutors.
The state’s high court ruled 5-0 in Mr. Smollett’s favor, but did not comment on his innocence in the fraudulent assault the actor still claims was legitimate.
“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,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the decision. “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 2019, Mr. Smollett called the police to report an attack where two White men wearing “Make America Great Again” hats shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him. The actor, who is Black and gay, said the assailants told him, “This is MAGA country,” then doused him in a chemical liquid and put a noose around his neck.
Chicago police spent hours investigating the case, but detectives later pegged Mr. Smollett as the orchestrator of a hoax.
Prosecutors argued in the now-overturned 2021 trial and conviction that Mr. Smollett paid $3,500 to two Black men, who are brothers, to carry out the attack because he was unhappy with hate mail he received. The prosecution said at the time the mail was also fabricated.
On the witness stand, Mr. Smollett denied the attack was a hoax.
A jury found him guilty of disorderly conduct. He spent six days in jail before he was freed pending appeal. The actor also was ordered to spend 30 months on probation and pay about $130,000 in restitution.
A state appellate court upheld Mr. Smollett’s conviction this year and said no one promised him he wouldn’t be prosecuted.
— This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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