Jussie Smollett, the Empire star who was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct in 2021, has had his conviction overturned.
Illinois Supreme Court sides with Jussie Smollett
The Illinois Supreme Court announced its decision on Thursday after Smollett's lawyers argued that the conviction violated the actor's Fifth Amendment double jeopardy rights, arguing that Cook County had already agreed not to try Smollett when federal prosecutors opened their own case.
"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 defendant's conviction," Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote, according to CBS News.
NBC News reported that Special Prosecutor Dan Webb insisted the ruling has nothing to do with whether Smollett is guilty or not. Smollett had been sentenced to 150 days behind bars and 30 months of probation.
Smollett accused of a hoax
In January of 2019, Smollett claimed he was the victim of a hate crime perpetrated by two brothers due to him being Black and gay. Within a month, Smollett was arrested after evidence came to light that his claim was a hoax. In March of 2019, the actor was indicted on multiple counts, including falsifying a police report.
The brothers, Ola and Abimbola Osundairo, who worked with Smollet as extras on Empire, told authorities that Smollett had paid them $3,500 each to fake an attack. Cook County prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Smollet after he agreed to community service. However, the then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel objected to the agreement. Later, federal prosecutors revived the case and charged Smollett again, according to NBC News.
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Throughout it all, Smollett maintained his innocence, claiming he was truly attacked and the brothers in question had lied to the police about him paying them.
Smollett rose to television fame in 2015 when he debuted on the FOX series Empire and remained with the show until his brush with the law in 2019. Smollett played Jamal Lyon on the acclaimed series about a hip-hop artist trying to decide which one of his sons to leave his music empire to, according to IMDb Smollet was let go from the show after his arrest. Empire was canceled a year later.
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