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Smollett Booking Photo
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges that he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police. The court’s decision on Thursday was based on prosecutorial issues and did not address Smollett’s claim of innocence.
The state’s highest court ruled that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped charges against Smollett in exchange for him forfeiting his $10,000 bond and performing community service.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, had claimed that two men assaulted him, shouted racial and homophobic slurs, and placed a noose around his neck. The alleged incident prompted a massive search for suspects by Chicago police and sparked an international uproar. Smollett, who starred on the television series Empire, was accused by prosecutors of staging the attack to gain attention after being dissatisfied with how the studio responded to hate mail he had received.
“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,” wrote Justice Elizabeth Rochford in the court’s unanimous 5-0 opinion. “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.”
