Why was Jussie Smollett’s conviction overturned?

The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned Jussie Smollett’s 2022 conviction on charges of falsely reporting a hate crime to police. The court found that Smollett should not have been prosecuted a second time after the charges were initially dropped in 2019.

In 2019, Smollett reported to police that two men had attacked him in Chicago. He claimed they shouted racist and homophobic slurs and told him: “This is MAGA country.” While many were quick to come to Smollett’s defense (incl then-Senator Kamala Harris), the Chicago Police Department soon claimed that Smollett himself had orchestrated the attack. He was arrested and charged with filing a false police report.

Shortly after a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 counts of disorderly conduct, prosecutors dropped all charges against the actor. A few months later, former US Attorney Dan Webb was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate why the charges were dropped. Webb decided to “pursue” Smollett further, leading to a widely publicized trial that found Smollett guilty of falsely reporting a hate crime.

Now the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the second prosecution violated Smollett’s rights. “We believe that a second prosecution under these circumstances would be a violation of due process, and we therefore reverse the defendant’s conviction,” wrote Judge Elizabeth M. Rochford, per New York Times.

“Make no mistake — today’s verdict has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence,” Webb said in a declarationand noted that he and his team “respectfully disagree with the court’s factual and legal reasoning.”

speaks to TMZSmollett’s lawyer Nenye Uche said he and his client were “ecstatic” and “delighted” with the decision.