Jussie Smollett, the obscure actor who orchestrated a fake hate crime against himself in 2019, might get away with it after all. The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Smollett's 2021 felony conviction on multiple counts of disorderly conduct. The court did not dispute Smollett's guilt but ruled that the hoax artist should not have been charged after he entered a sweetheart non-prosecution agreement with the office of Kim Foxx, the Democratic politician who continues to serve as the state's attorney for Cook County.
"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," the court wrote in its decision. "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."
In January 2019, Smollett falsely claimed to have been the victim of a violent hate crime while walking back to his luxury apartment building in Chicago. He alleged the perpetrators were wearing red "Make America Great Again" hats yet somehow recognized him from the show Empire. Smollett recalled his attackers shouting racist and homophobic slurs while pouring bleach over his body and placing a noose around his neck. Scores of prominent Democrats, journalists, celebrities, and other liberal activists rushed to condemn the "assault." Many blamed then-president Donald Trump for inciting it with his violent rhetoric.
"@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know," Kamala Harris, then a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary, wrote in a tweet she still hasn't deleted. "I'm praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate."
Investigators quickly determined that Smollett had staged the attack. He paid two Nigerian bodybuilders to acquire the necessary props and commit the "crime." Prior to the attack, Smollett wrote a racist and threatening letter to himself but was disappointed when it didn't get a "bigger reaction."
In March 2019, a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 counts of disorderly conduct. Several weeks later, Foxx's office agreed to drop all charges against Smollett. In exchange, the multimillionaire actor would forfeit his $10,000 bail and agree to do community service. The agreement was widely denounced as a miscarriage of justice. Foxx came under fire after it was revealed she exchanged text messages with Smollett's family, friends, and associates, including Michelle Obama's former chief of staff, Tina Chen.
Foxx ordered an independent inquiry into the case, which resulted in Smollett being charged again in February 2020 and subsequently found guilty on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police. In March 2022, he was sentenced to 150 days in county jail and ordered to pay nearly $150,000 in fines and restitution to the city of Chicago. Smollett served just six days of that sentence before he was granted release pending the outcome of his various challenges, including the appeal of his conviction to the Illinois Supreme Court.
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