Jussie Smollett's Conviction For Hate-Crime Hoax Overturned By Illinois Supreme Court

Empire actor Jussie Smollett, who was found guilty in 2021 of felony disorderly conduct stemming from a false police report he filed, has had his conviction overturned.

As first reported by the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Smollett's trial verdict on Thursday, determining that the decision to retry Smollett (after charges against him were initially dropped in 2019) violated the actor's 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 court's opinion reads. "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."

"This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive persecution, and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system," Smollett's lawyer, Nenye Uche, said in a statement provided to TVLine. "Ultimately, we are pleased that the rule of law was the big winner today. We are thankful to the Illinois Supreme Court for restoring order to Illinois' criminal law jurisprudence."

Smollett's legal battle began back in 2019, when he claimed in January of that year — days after a threatening, racist and homophobic letter was allegedly sent to him at the Chicago studio where Fox's Empire filmed — that he had been beaten up by two men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him. He claimed his attackers tied a rope around his neck, doused him with an "unknown substance" and warned him that he was in "MAGA country."

Weeks later, a Chicago grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts related to his alleged staging of the aforementioned hate crime, including a felony charge for filing a false police report. Soon after, though, prosecutors unexpectedly dropped all charges.

Then, in February 2020, after a special prosecutor looked into the case, a grand jury once again indicted Smollett, this time on six counts of felony disorderly conduct (which are covered by a section of the law that prohibits false reports to police). In December 2021, he was found guilty on five of those six charges; the sixth count, on which Smollett was found not guilty, charged him with reporting that he'd been a victim of an aggravated battery.

Smollett was subsequently sentenced to five months in jail, 30 months of felony probation, a $25,000 fine and more than $120,000 in restitution. He had not yet served his jail sentence, though, due to a lengthy appeal process after the conviction and sentencing came down.