CHICAGO (CBS)– The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction for orchestrating a hate crime hoax.
Smollett was convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct and sentenced to 150 days in prison in 2021, but was released after just six days behind bars while he appealed his case. Smollett has maintained his innocence from the beginning.
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 police investigated his allegations, detectives then focused on Smollett himself, and he was accused of staging a fake hate crime against himself with brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who later said he had paid them to organize the attack.
Defense attorneys had argued that his trial violated Fifth Amendment protections 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 later assigned to reexamine the case and filed a new indictment against him, but Smollett’s lawyers argued that the special prosecutor should never have been allowed to bring new charges.
On Thursday, the state’s highest court sided with Smollett’s lawyers, overturning his conviction and ordering the case against him to be dismissed.
“Today, we resolve a question about the state’s responsibility to honor the agreements it enters into with defendants. Specifically, we examine whether dismissing a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to initiate a second suit when the filing was made as part of an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has fulfilled his end of the bargain. We believe that a second suit in these circumstances constitutes a procedural violation. regular, and we therefore cancel defendant’s conviction,” Judge Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s decision.
Cook County prosecutors dropped the original charges against Smollett weeks after he was indicted, in exchange for forfeiting his $10,000 bail and serving 16 hours of community service, but a Judge later ruled that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office mishandled the case and appointed a special prosecutor to review it.
This special prosecutor then filed a new indictment against Smollett by the grand jury, and he was convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct and sentenced to 150 days in prison. He only served six days of this sentence before being released while he appealed his case.
Last December, a An Illinois Court of Appeals panel upheld Smollett’s convictionsiding with prosecutors who claimed there was no evidence, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Smollett when the original charges against him were dropped.
But appeals judge Freddrena Lyle disagreed with the decision, arguing that it was “fundamentally unfair” to appoint a special prosecutor to charge Smollett a second time after he struck a deal that he said would end to the case.
In overturning Smollett’s conviction, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed with defense attorneys that the special prosecutor’s decision to bring new charges violated Smollett’s rights after the original case was dropped and Smollett agreed to waive his $10,000 bail.
“It is defiant to believe that the defendant would agree to forfeit $10,000 on the understanding that [prosecutors] could simply re-indict him the next day,” the court ruling said.
The Illinois Supreme Court sent Smollett’s case back to the trial court to formally dismiss the charges.
“We are aware that this case generated considerable public interest and that many people were unhappy with the resolution of the original case and viewed it as unfair,” the notice said. “Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than resolving any criminal case would be for this court to conclude that the state is not required to honor agreements that people have prejudicially relied upon.”
