Jussie Smollett's conviction in hoax attack overturned by state supreme court

The Illinois Supreme Court has thrown out former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's conviction for lying about a 2019 hate crime.

Smollett was found guilty in 2021 for faking a racist and homophobic attack and lying to the police. His lawyers said this violated his Fifth Amendment rights because, in 2019, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx had already agreed to drop the charges if Smollett paid $10,000 and did community service. A special prosecutor later charged him again, leading to his trial and conviction.

In its decision, filed on Thursday, the court stated they are resolving a "question about the State's responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants."

The court stated it did not find that the state could bring a second prosecution against Smollett after the initial charges were dismissed as part of an agreement and the actor performed the terms of the agreement, noting that Illinois case law establishes that it is "fundamentally unfair to allow the prosecution to renege on a deal with a defendant when the defendant has relied on the agreement to his detriment."

"We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust. Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the State was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied," it said.

Among the cases cited in the court's decision is Bill Cosby's, whose conviction on sexual assault charges was overturned in 2021 by Pennsylvania's highest court.

Cosby was sentenced in 2018 to three to 10 years in state prison for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. After hearing Cosby's appeal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that his prosecution should never have occurred due to a deal the comedian cut with former Montgomery County prosecutor Bruce Castor, who agreed not to criminally prosecute Cosby if he gave a deposition in a civil case brought against him by Constand.

While citing the Cosby case, the Illinois State Supreme Court said the state "reneging on a fully executed agreement" after Smollett forfeited a $10,000 bond "would be arbitrary, unreasonable, fundamentally unfair, and a violation of the defendant's due process rights."

The Illinois Supreme Court's decision cancels earlier rulings by Cook County and appellate courts. The court has now sent the case back to the lower court to officially dismiss the charges.

A jury convicted him in December 2021 on five of six felony counts of disorderly conduct stemming from him filing a false police report and lying to police, who spent more than $130,000 investigating his allegations.

He was sentenced to 150 days in county jail, ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago, fined $25,000 and ordered to serve 30 months of felony probation.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.