Jussie Smollett has conviction over ‘hoax hate attack’ overturned

An actor accused of hiring two men to stage a racially motivated attack on him has had his conviction for lying about the incident overturned.

Empire star Jussie Smollett claimed in 2019 that he was attacked in Chicago by two men who shouted racist and homophobic abuse at him, and left him with a noose around his neck . Picture: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

An actor accused of hiring two men to stage a racially motivated attack on him has had his conviction for lying about the incident overturned.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Jussie Smollett, who starred in the drama series Empire, was treated unfairly because prosecutors broke an agreement not to charge him.

“Today we resolve a question about the state’s responsibility to honour the agreements it makes with defendants,” wrote Justice Elizabeth Rochford.

“We address whether a dismissal of a case … 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.”

Smollett waves as he follows his lawyer to the microphones after a court appearance in Chicago, Illinois in March 2019 on March 26, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. This morning in court it was announced that all charges were dropped against the actor. Picture: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

Smollett, who is gay, claimed in 2019 that he was attacked in Chicago by two men who shouted racist and homophobic abuse at him, and left him with a noose around his neck. The men, Smollett said, shouted pro-Trump slogans and told him he was in “Maga country”.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the model Naomi Campbell and the actor Kerry Washington were among those who leapt to Smollett’s defence and condemned the “attack”.

Yet a court was told that he had paid two brothers, whom he met on the set of the TV show, a total of dollars 3,500 to carry out the attack.

Prosecutors alleged that he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.

Smollett, 42, insists he is innocent and did not stage the hoax, despite the brothers giving detailed interviews describing the arrangement.

Actor Jussie Smollett was found guilty of orchestrating and reporting a false hate crime on himself, after lying to police when he reported that two masked men physically attacked him, yelling racist and anti-gay remarks near his Chicago home in 2019. Picture: Chicago Police Department via Getty Images

Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months of probation, and ordered to pay more than dollars 130,000 in restitution. He served six days of that sentence in 2021, but was released pending appeal.

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In 2019, Kim Foxx, the state lawyer for Cook County, agreed to drop the charges if Smollett paid dollars 10,000 and did community service. But that agreement was rescinded and a special prosecutor later charged him again, leading to his trial and conviction.

The latest ruling cited the overturning of Bill Cosby’s conviction on sexual assault charges after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that his prosecution had broken a previous agreement not to charge him.

“It cannot be gainsaid that society holds a strong interest in the prosecution of crimes,” the Illinois justices wrote.

“It is also true that no such interest, however important, ever can eclipse society’s interest in ensuring that the constitutional rights of the people are vindicated. Society’s interest in prosecution does not displace the remedy due to constitutionally aggrieved persons.”

The Times