On Friday, “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett lost an appeal to have his sentence and conviction overturned for falsely reporting a hate crime to Illinois police in 2019.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the appeals court ruled 2-1 that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s decision to drop all charges did not qualify as a non-prosecution agreement with Smollett — whose attorneys claimed the actor was subjected to double jeopardy because he forfeited bail money.
Though Smollett was sentenced last year to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation, he served six days in jail before he was released due to the pending appeal.
WGN reported that a special prosecutor re-charged Smollett after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx dropped the charges against him and he paid a fine.
“The record does not establish that Smollett entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the (Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office), in which the (office) agreed to forgo further prosecution of him in exchange for his performance of community service and the forfeiture of his bond,” Justice David Navarro stated in the majority opinion.
Smollett’s attorneys also claimed that prosecutors withheld evidence regarding the actor’s attackers and excluded jurors based on race and sexual orientation.
Smollett, who is gay and Black, claimed a noose was wrapped around his neck in 2019. Since then, prosecutors determined Smollett paid $3,500 to brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who are Black, to stage the apparent hate crime assault.
In addition to the jail sentence, Smollett was ordered to pay $130,160 in restitution. It is unclear when the actor will start serving the remainder of his sentence.
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[Featured image: Jussie Smollett/Cook County jail]
