Jussie Smollett’s conviction in the 2019 attack on himself has been overturned

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Actor Jussie Smollett Conviction on charges that he staged a racist and homophobic attack on himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police was overturned Thursday over prosecutorial issues in an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that did not address his plea of ​​innocence.

The the state’s highest court found that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped charges against Smollett in exchange for him forfeiting his $10,000 bond and performing community service.

Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed two men assaulted him, hurled racial and homophobic slurs and put a noose around his neck, prompting a massive manhunt for suspects by Chicago police detectives and sparking an international outcry . Smollett starred in the TV drama “Empire,” which was filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.

“We recognize that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unfair,” Judge Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s 5-0 opinion. “Yet what would be more unjust than the resolution of a single criminal case would be a finding by this court that the state was not obligated to honor agreements upon which people have injuriously relied.”

Smollett’s attorneys argued the case was over when Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office the fall the first 16 cases of disorder. The agreement prompted immediate backlash, with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling it “a whitewash of justice.” A special prosecutor was appointed and a grand jury reinstated the charges, leading to Smollett’s sentencing in 2021 five counts of disorderly conduct.

“This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive pursuit and such a procedure has no place in our criminal justice system,” Smollett’s lawyer, Nenye Uche, said in a statement. Uche said, “the rule of law was the big winner today” and thanked the court for “restoring order in Illinois’ criminal jurisprudence.”

Special prosecutor Dan Webb said he disagreed with the court’s ruling, noting that it “has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence.”

“The Illinois Supreme Court found no error in the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty on five counts of gross disorderly conduct,” Webb said.

A spokesman said Foxx would be available to comment later Thursday. Eileen O’Neill Burke, the the incoming Cook County State’s Attorney who was elected this month to replace Foxx after she decided not to seek a third term, declined to comment.

Testimony at the trial indicated that Smollett paid $3,500 to two men he knew from “Empire” to carry out the attack. Prosecutors said he told them what to shout, shouting that Smollett was in “MAGA land,” an apparent reference to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan.

Smollett testified that “there was no hoax” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.

He was sentenced to 150 days in prison – six of which he served before he was sentenced released pending appeal — and was ordered to pay about $130,000 in restitution.

Webb noted that Chicago officials can still pursue their civil suit against Smollett, which seeks to recover the $130,000, the amount police say they paid in overtime to pursue Smollett’s charges.

Smollett, a child actor who appeared in the 1992 film “The Mighty Ducks,” has credited his role as a singer in the hip-hop drama “Empire” for turbocharging his career. This year he starred in the film “The Lost Holliday” with Vivica A. Fox.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis and Justice Joy Cunningham did not participate in Thursday’s decision.

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Tareen reported from Chicago.