Jussie Smollett’s Conviction Is Overturned

Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned Jussie Smollett’s conviction in the case surrounding the alleged-hoax hate crime he claimed was committed against him in 2019, per the Chicago Tribune. The court found that the special prosecutors’ decision to retry Smollett after the Cook County State Attorney’s Office dropped all charges violated his rights. “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 opinion stated. “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.”

Smollett’s case has had the decision flipped multiple times at this point. Most recently, in December 2023, a lower court rejected his appeal, but Smollett appealed again, and now, almost a year after that, the Supreme Court of Illinois agrees with him, saying that the original decision by the state court should have been followed. Smollett first made the claim of a hate crime in January 2019. On February 20 of that year, after reports that the attackers were paid actors, Smollett was charged with filing a false police report. But by March, the Cook County State Attorney’s Office, under Kim Foxx, dropped the charges, reportedly explaining to the police that she believed he would only be sentenced with community service. There was ensuing backlash, and, in June, a special prosecutor was approved by an Illinois judge to try Smollett. He was found guilty in 2022 and sentenced to 150 days in jail with 30 months’ probation, but he appealed the decision and left jail after just six days by putting up a $150,000 personal-recognizance bond. If he needs a new project, we know a Broadway musical where the experience of wriggling out of a conviction in Chicago might be helpful.