Illinois Supreme Court Overturns Jussie Smollett’s Conviction
- Tiffany Rigby
- Nov 29, 2024
- 1 min read
Jussie Smollett’s hate crime hoax case has taken a surprising turn. The Illinois State Supreme Court has thrown out Jussie Smollett's conviction for allegedly faking a hate crime. In its Thursday, Nov. 21 decision, the court explained that the ruling addresses "questions about the state's responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants," according to the Associated Press.
The court determined that Smollett should not have been charged a second time for the same incident after the initial charges against him were dismissed in an agreement with Cook County prosecutors. He was convicted in 2021 for allegedly staging a homophobic and racist attack against himself outside a Subway restaurant in Chicago in 2019 and then lying to the police about it.
His lawyers argued it violated his Fifth Amendment rights since charges were dropped in 2019 after he paid $10,000 and did community service. A special prosecutor later revived the case.
"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.
Smollett's attorney, Nenye Uche, said they are thankful for the court "restoring order to Illinois' criminal law jurisprudence," according to BET.com.
Comments