Empire star Jussie Smollett’s conviction overturned by Illinois court

Jussie Smollett, Empire The conviction of the star, who was convicted of five counts of irregular behavior in 2021, was overturned.

Illinois Supreme Court sided with Jussie Smollett

The Illinois Supreme Court issued its decision 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 prosecute Smollett when federal prosecutors filed their own case.

“Today we resolve the question about the State’s responsibility to abide by agreements it made with defendants. In particular, we consider whether dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi permits the State to pursue a second prosecution when the dismissal was made as part of an agreement. Judge Elizabeth Rochford said: We fulfilled it. “We consider that a second prosecution would be unlawful under the circumstances and we therefore reverse the defendant’s conviction,” he wrote. CBS News.

NBC News reported that Special Prosecutor Dan Webb insisted that the verdict had nothing to do with whether Smollett was guilty. Smollett was sentenced to 150 days behind bars and 30 months probation.

Smollett charged with fraud

In January 2019, Smollett claimed that he was the victim of a hate crime committed by two brothers because he is black and gay. Within a month, Smollett was arrested after evidence emerged that his claim was a hoax. In March 2019, the actor was indicted on multiple charges, including falsifying a police report.

Siblings Ola and Abimbola Osundairo, who worked with Smollet as extras on Empire, told authorities Smollett paid them $3,500 for a fake attack. Cook County prosecutors agreed not to file charges after Smollet agreed to community service. However, then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel objected to the agreement. Federal prosecutors later revived the case and re-indicted Smollett. NBC News.

Throughout it all, Smollett maintained his innocence and claimed that he was actually attacked and that the brothers in question were lying about paying the police.

Smollett rose to television fame in 2015, debuting on the FOX series. Empire and remained on the show until his falling out with the law in 2019. Smollett played Jamal Lyon in the acclaimed series about a hip-hop artist trying to decide which of his sons he will leave his music empire to. IMDb Smollet was removed from the show following his arrest. Empire It was canceled a year later.