Jussie Smollett, the former Empire actor who was convicted, in 2021, of staging a hate crime on himself in 2019, has had that conviction overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court. The court ruled that, since Smollett had negotiated an agreement when similar charges were filed in 2019, prosecutors violated due process by trying him again two years later.
The case began in January 2019, when Smollett reported to the Chicago Police Department that he had been targeted in a racist and homophobic attack. Two suspects were released from custody after telling police that Smollett had paid them to stage the attack, leading to a 16-count grand jury indictment against Smollett.
Prosecutors dropped the case when Smollett agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond and perform community service, but, in 2021, the case was revived amid public outcry. The second time around, he was convicted on six counts and handed a 150-day jail sentence. Six days in, he was released again so he could take the case to the Illinois Appeals Court. That court upheld the conviction before the case was escalated to the Illinois Supreme Court, where Justice Elizabeth M. Rochford reversed the conviction. Smollett pleaded not guilty to the charges in both cases.
Nenye Uche, a lawyer for Smollett, said in a statement reported by The New York Times, “We are thankful to the Illinois Supreme Court for restoring order to Illinois’ criminal law jurisprudence.”