American actor Smollett’s conviction for staged attack was overturned

American actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction for portraying a racist and homophobic hate crime in Chicago in 2019 was overturned Thursday on due process grounds.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Smollett, 42, should not have been charged again by prosecutors after a plea deal was rejected on a dozen original charges.

It is the latest twist in Smollett’s legal saga, which began with his first allegation in January 2019 that he had been attacked on a Chicago street.

The gay African-American actor, then a cast member of the hit television series “Empire,” said two masked men accosted him late at night, shouted abuse and put a noose around his neck.

His claim prompted a major police operation in the Midwest to find the assailants and an outpouring of public support.

But investigators later came to believe he had staged it all, based on examination of CCTV footage and mobile phone data of Smollett and his two alleged attackers.

Prosecutors charged him with 16 felonies, alleging he concocted the hate crime and paid Nigerian brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo $3,500 to carry it out while invoking then-President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

– Hate mail –

Smollett staged the attack after receiving a legitimate piece of hate mail that he felt was not taken seriously by his employers, prosecutors said.

But those charges were suddenly dropped in March 2019 under an arrangement in which Smollett forfeited his $10,000 bond and agreed to perform community service.

The dismissal was met with anger by some city officials, including then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who argued that the $10,000 was a fraction of the actual cost of the investigation.

A special prosecutor eventually took over the case, and several charges were reopened.

Smollett, who has always maintained his innocence, was found guilty in December 2021.

Although he was sentenced to 150 days in jail with 30 months of probation, he was released pending the outcome of his appeal.

He was also ordered to repay $120,106 to Chicago Police to cover their investigative costs.

The case had initially sent shockwaves through a deeply divided country still plagued by racial and gender discrimination, and the actor had immediately received support from celebrities in political and cultural circles.

The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision said bringing the charges a second time after “the defendant has performed his part of the bargain” represented “a due process violation.”

“We therefore overturn (the) defendant’s conviction,” the judgment states.

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