Jussie Smollett gains a win regarding his conviction for his controversial 2019 hate crime hoax.
It’s been reported that the Illinois Supreme Court ruled to overturn his conviction on Thursday. In 2019, the “Empire” star said he was attacked by two men while yelling racial and homophobic slurs at him.
However, during the trial, prosecutors found out that Smollett hired brothers Abimbola and Olabinjio Osundario to stage the attack. He was initially charged with staging a fake hate crime against himself. The case was later dropped after it was found that Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx had mishandled a few things.
A new prosecutor was brought in to reinvestigate the case and Smollett was facing a new indictment. He was later convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct and lying to the police. Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail in 2021 but he was released six days later while seeking an appeal.
Jussie Smollett has maintained that the incident was a hate crime and argued that the case should be dropped because of double jeopardy.
Justice Elizabeth Rochford said in her decision, “Today we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants. Specifically, we address whether a dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to bring a second prosecution when the dismissal was entered as part of an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has performed his part of the bargain. We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse the defendant’s conviction.”
The court also found that the prosecutors violated Jussie Smollett’s constitutional rights “in bringing a new indictment against him after his original charge was dropped and he agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond.”
He will have to appear in court again for a formal dismissal of the charges.