Jussie Smolletts Conviction for False Hate Crime Claim Is Overturned

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges of filing a false police report claiming that he had been the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in 2019, finding that he was unjustly prosecuted a second time after his charges had been resolved as part of a negotiated agreement.Lawyers for the actor — who had been starring in the music-industry drama “Empire” when he first reported that he had been the victim of a hate crime in Chicago — argued that Mr.Smollett’s rights had been violated when a special prosecutor revived a case against him that had been dismissed by state prosecutors.When Mr.

Smollett first reported the attack, he claimed that two men had mildly injured him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs, with one of them yelling, “This is MAGA country.” The apparently bigoted attack against a Black and gay actor sparked outrage.But law-enforcement officials later determined that Mr.

Smollett had orchestrated the attack himself, and charged him with a crime.The prosecutors then agreed to drop the charges against Mr.Smollett in exchange for his agreement to forfeit his $10,000 bond and perform community service.

But after an outcry the case was revived by a special prosecutor, and Mr.Smollett was convicted of felony disorderly conduct for falsely reporting to the police that he had been the victim of a bigoted attack.The prosecution’s key witnesses were two brothers, Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, who testified during the trial last year that Mr.

Smollett had asked them to carry out the attack and instructed them in detail on how to do it.Mr.Smollett was sentenced to five months in jail in 2022 but only served six days of the term before he was released on appeal.In a stunning decision that reversed an earlier appellate court’s ruling, the Supreme Court sided with Mr.

Smollett, finding that the second prosecution violated his rights.“We hold that a second prosecution unde...