Illinois Supreme Court Overturns Jussie Smollett Conviction

Yesterday afternoon in Springfield Illinois the Illinois Supreme Court overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s previous conviction of a hate crime hoax stemming from an incident in January of 2019 when Smollett said he was attacked by two men shouting slurs who poured bleach on him and placed a noose around his neck.

Smollett was convicted of orchestrating the attack in 2021 with the help of the Osundairo brothers who were personal trainers and extras on the show Smollett starred in at the time “Empire” who testified that Smollett paid them to conduct the attack and scripted it out for them.

The sentence following conviction for Smollett was one hundred fifty days jail time, thirty months of probation and a restitution of over one hundred twenty thousand dollars to the city of Chicago as payment for the money the city spent on police overtime during the investigation. He was also to pay an additional twenty-five thousand dollar fine.

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The Illinois Supreme court said in their statement that “Because the initial charges were dismissed as part of an agreement with the defendant, and the defendant performed his part of the agreement, the second prosecution was barred.”

Special Prosecutor Dan K. Webb said that he was disappointed with the decision, while attorney for Smollett, Nenya Uche said “I’m sure Jessie would want an apology, but he’s a realistic man, right? He knows he’s not going to get it.”