The conviction against actor Jussie Smollett for falsely reporting a hate crime to Chicago police in 2019 has been overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court over prosecutorial issues.
Smollett’s case was reviewed by the state high court, which ruled Thursday that the former “Empire” actor should not have been charged after he entered a non-prosecution agreement with the Cook County State Attorney’s Office. Smollett was sentenced in 2022 to 150 days in jail and 30 months’ probation after being found guilty of of five counts of felony disorderly conduct.
The actor told police in January 2019 that he was the victim of a hate crime, having been brutally attacked in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood because he is Black and gay. Two men who worked on the set of “Empire” — brothers Olabingo and Abimbola Osundairo — were arrested in the investigation. But the Chicago Police Department later said that Smollett recruited the brothers to help him stage the attack.
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