Jussie Smollett’s conviction for fake hate attack overturned as court cites Bill Cosby case as example in shock reversal

The conviction of ACTOR Jussie Smollett for planning a fictitious hate crime has been reversed.

The Empire star agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors during his initial case in 2019, and the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in favor of his appeal that he should never have been convicted in 2021.

“Today we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants,” the Illinois superior court said in a statement on Thursday.

In particular, we discuss whether the State may pursue a second prosecution after a case is dismissed by nolle prosequi if the dismissal was made in accordance with an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has fulfilled his half of the deal.

“We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction.”

Smollet told Chicago police that he was attacked outside his apartment building on January 29, 2019, and that this was a hate crime.

The 42-year-old actor said that two individuals hurled racial and homophobic epithets and physically attacked him.

In the police report, Smollett said that the individuals had a noose around his head before yelling, “This is MAGA country.”

But according to a police investigation, Smollett hired the two men—brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo—$3,500 to carry out the assault in an effort to advance his career.

In February 2019, Smolletton was indicted on felony counts of submitting a false police report by a grand jury.

But after negotiating with Smollett’s defense team, prosecutors dismissed all of the actor’s accusations a month later, in exchange for the defendant forfeiting his $10,000 bond and completing 16 hours of community service.

However, concerns about partiality in Smollett’s arrangement with prosecutors surfaced, prompting Cook County District Attorney Kim Foxx to order a special investigator to conduct an independent investigation in June 2019.

Smollett would stand trial in November 2021 after being charged with six counts of felony disorderly conduct related to filing fake police reports.

Smollett was found guilty on five of the six counts by a jury in December 2021. He was given a 30-month probationary period, with the first 150 days being spent behind bars.

BILL COSBY ARGUMENT

After a court ruled that Smollett should be released while his conviction was challenged, he was only imprisoned for six days.

Another case that attracted public attention was that of Bill Cosby in Pennsylvania, according to the Illinois Supreme Court.

In January 2004, Cosby was found guilty of sexually assaulting, drugging, and molesting a Temple University employee at his suburban residence in Elkins Park. He was given a sentence of three to ten years in jail.

Once adored as “America’s Dad,” the disgraced actor spent more than two years behind bars before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed his conviction, claiming that Cosby’s due process rights had been violated.

More than fifty other women have accused Cosby of sexual assault and misbehavior since his release.

Regarding Cosby’s case, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled, “It cannot be gainsaid that society holds a strong interest in the prosecution of crimes.”

It is also true that no interest of this kind, no matter how significant, can ever override society’s desire to see that the people’s constitutional rights are upheld.

“Society’s interest in prosecution does not displace the remedy due to constitutionally aggrieved persons.”