CHICAGO (CBS) — The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction for organizing a hate crime scam.
Smollett convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to 150 days in jail in 2021, but was released after six days in jail. when he appealed his case. Smollett has maintained his innocence from the start.
Smollett claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack near his Streeterville apartment in January 2019 after walking several blocks to a Subway sandwich shop.
After the police investigated his claims, detectives later focused on Smollett himself, and he was accused of staging a false hate crime against himself with the brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who later testified that he paid for the stage of the attack.
Defense attorneys have argued that the trial violated the Fifth Amendment’s protection against double jeopardy, after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office agreed to drop the original charges against him.
A special prosecutor was then assigned to reinvestigate the case, and bring new charges against him, but Smollett’s attorney argued that the special prosecutor should not be allowed to bring new charges.
On Thursday, the state’s highest court sided with Smollett’s attorney, overturning his conviction, and ordered that the case be dismissed.
“Today we decided the question of the State’s responsibility to honor the agreement made with the accused. With the accused and the accused have done part of the bargain to reverse the conviction of the accused,” said Judge Elizabeth Rochford in the court’s decision.
Cook County prosecutors dropped the original charges against Smollett a week after he was accused, in exchange for him forfeiting $10,000 bail and doing 16 hours of community service, but a judge later ruled that Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx’s office mishandled the case and appointed a special prosecutor to inspect.
The special prosecutor later brought a new grand jury indictment against Smollett, and he was convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct and sentenced to 150 days in jail. They executed only six days from that sentence before he was released during the appeal of his case.
Last December, An Illinois Appellate Court panel upheld Smollett’s convictionSiding with prosecutors who argued that there was no evidence prosecutors had agreed not to prosecute Smollett further when the initial charges against him were dropped.
But Appellate Justice Freddrenna Lyle dissented from the decision, arguing it was “unfair” to appoint a special prosecutor to charge Smollett a second time after he signed a plea agreement believed to end the case.
In order to overturn Smollett’s conviction, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed with defense attorneys that the special prosecutor’s decision to file new charges violated Smollett’s rights after the original case was dismissed and Smollett agreed to forfeit $10,000 bail.
“It defies credulity to believe that the defendant would agree to forfeit $10,000 with the understanding that (the prosecution) could only reindict him the next day,” the court’s ruling stated.
The Illinois Supreme Court sent Smollett’s case back to court to formally dismiss the charges.
“We understand that this case is of public interest and that many people are dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believe it to be unfair,” the opinion said. “However, what is more unfair than the resolution of any criminal case that will come from this court is that the State does not have to respect the agreements that people rely on.”
