Four years after being convicted of simulating a hate crime against himself, and after being found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct, actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction has been overturned. Smollett, 42, appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court last September, arguing that after the Cook County district attorney’s office (also in Illinois) dropped charges against him in 2019, the arrest should never have been allowed. intervention of a special prosecutor, that is, he should never have gone through double prosecution. The court, the highest in the State, heard the arguments of its lawyers in September and this Thursday, November 21, it made a decision: “We reverse the ruling of the court of appeal, we revoke the ruling of the circuit court and we return the case with instructions for the circuit court to issue a ruling of dismissal.”
The case dates back to early 2019. In January of that year, Smollett – an African-American and openly gay actor – went to the police to report that he had suffered a racist and homophobic attack. He said that, while walking through Chicago and going to a fast food restaurant, he had been approached by two men wearing ski masks, who had yelled at him: “Aren’t you that black faggot from (the series) empire?” According to his version, the two men had beaten him and tied a rope around his neck, in addition to spraying him with bleach and yelling at him: “This is a MAGA country,” for the acronym of the Trumpist slogan. Make America Great Again (let’s recover the greatness of the United States). Then it was also learned that he had suffered threats days before and that the Fox television studio had offered to provide security for him, but he had rejected it. With bruises and a broken rib, he had to go to the hospital.
However, as the days went by the version began to go out of tune. In February of that year, the police began to investigate whether the attack had been orchestrated by him. The testimonies of the two detained as suspects, who were quickly released, did not add up. “They have changed the trajectory of the investigation,” the Chicago police spokesman said. A few days later, the actor was arrested accused of filing a false complaint: they claimed that he hired two brothers as the two alleged attackers and that he had organized everything. Smollett always denied it. So empirethe successful series for which he worked, decided to dispense with him and remove him from the remaining episodes. “We are aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members of the show “And to avoid further disruption to filming, we have decided to remove Jamal’s character from the last two episodes of the season,” they alleged in a statement. Later, they announced that they would not have him for the following seasons.
Prosecutors then charged Smollett with 16 counts, carrying a minimum sentence of three years in prison, for lying twice to police about the alleged assault, for which, it was later revealed, he had paid $3,500 to the suspects. two attacking brothers. According to the Chicago police superintendent, the interpreter was looking to boost his career and achieve a salary increase. But in another twist to the case, prosecutors dropped those charges just a couple of weeks later, in March 2019, and deemed it “fair” to close the case after the man posted $10,000 bail. “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including the community service volunteer assignments and the bail agreement with the city of Chicago, we believe this is a fair and appropriate disposition for the case,” the spokeswoman stated. of the Cook County prosecutor’s office, to which Chicago belongs. Instead, city police said they didn’t think it was fair. “I think this city is still owed an apology,” the superintendent said.
But there was another turn. In 2021, a special prosecutor took up the case for Cook County, and Smollett was tried by a jury that in December of that year found him guilty of five of the six charges he faced. In March 2022, he was sentenced to 30 months of probation and five months in prison, as well as paying compensation of $120,000 and another fine of $25,000 for lying to the police. He spent only six days in prison. But his lawyers always argued that, once the prosecution dropped the charges in March 2019, he should never have gone through another process, and that this had been carried out by a politicized and racist judicial system. They filed an appeal earlier this year for having been subjected to double jeopardy, according to him, and for suffering what he considers an excessive sentence. Although the prosecution claims that he did not complain at the time, but months after that second trial, now, in another eternal turn of events, Smollett has won.
After his fall from grace, the performer has barely returned to work as an actor. Although he had been in the world of acting since he was five years old, he had become a well-known face in film and television thanks to his appearance in a couple of films in the Alien saga and especially for the series empire. In recent years, he has stayed behind the camera, directing and executive producing a couple of small films.
Leave a Reply