The prison sentence, in March 2022, of Jussie Smollett for his denunciation of an alleged assault in the streets of Chicago in January 2019 was canceled this Thursday for procedural defects.
Not exonerated, but not convicted. The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction and prison sentence of “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, 42, set for 2022 following the high-profile incident in 2019.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the special prosecutor's decision to retry the actor violated his rights. However, the former U.S. Attorney appointed to the case, Dan Webb, now insists that the ruling does not mean the actor did not falsely report a hate crime.
A fabricated attack?
Jussie Smollett claimed to have been the victim of an attack on January 29, 2019 by two men who chanted “MAGA” (the Trumpist slogan “make America great again”). According to the investigation, the two people turned out to have been specially hired by the actor for a staging during which they were supposed to utter racist and homophobic insults against him, and to put a noose around his neck.
Law enforcement later determined that Jussie Smollett himself orchestrated the attack, which initially sparked a huge outpouring of support. The attack had in fact caused strong indignation in the United States – and the mobilization of several personalities – before the investigators concluded, thanks to remote surveillance images and the examination of telephone data, that it was a question of 'a set-up.
The actor was then charged but the charges were dropped after an agreement by which Jussie Smollett waived recovery of his $10,000 bail and agreed to perform community service. This decision was considered too lenient by local officials, including the Democratic mayor of Chicago at the time, Rahm Emanuel. Special prosecutor Dan Webb then took over the case and re-indicted the actor, who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings.
“You were looking for attention, you wanted to be even more famous” declared the judge, James Linn, when pronouncing the sentence, this time to prison, in 2022. Jussie Smollett was released pending the outcome of his call. For the Illinois Supreme Court, indicting the actor a second time after having “honored his part of the agreement” constituted a “violation of his rights to a fair trial”.
“We are aware that this case generated considerable public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and viewed it as unfair,” reads the Court's opinion, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than resolving a criminal case would be for this Court to decide that the State is not required to honor agreements that people have prejudicially relied upon.”
“Today’s decision has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence”
As reported by Deadline, special prosecutor Dan Webb criticizes the court's decision to overturn the conviction. “We are disappointed by the Illinois Supreme Court's decision today to overturn Jussie Smollett's convictions and sentence, including the awarding of more than $120,000 in restitution to the City of Chicago for his expenses additional information in the investigation into Mr. Smollett's bogus hate crime,” he said. “We respectfully disagree with the Court’s factual and legal reasoning, which overturns long-standing Illinois precedent.”
“Make no mistake, today's decision has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett's innocence,” continued the former lawyer specializing in the Iran-Contra scandal. “The Illinois Supreme Court found no error in the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a false hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime , nor in the unanimous jury verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty on five counts.”
“Today’s decision does not change the deep pride I feel for the work accomplished by my Special Prosecutor’s Office; it does not call into question the jury's verdict and, more importantly, it does not clear Jussie Smollett's name – he is not innocent.”
At the time his legal troubles began, Jussie Smollett had been playing youngest son Jamal Lyon for five seasons on the television series “Empire.” His legal problems accumulating, the actor was removed from the sixth and final season of the Fox series.
