SPRINGFIELD (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned the 2021 felony disorderly conduct conviction of actor Jussie Smollett.
In an opinion filed Thursday, the state’s highest court ruled the conviction was a due process violation.
Smollett’s attorneys argued there was a deferred prosecution agreement with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx's office, in which Smollett would forfeit his bond and do community service but would not have to admit guilt to charges that he staged a racist, homophobic attack on himself.
His attorneys said a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped charges. Smollett’s lawyers also raised double-jeopardy questions and said the case threatens to upend all such agreements.
The Illinois Supreme Court heard the arguments in September.
In 2021, he was convicted and sentenced to 150 days in jail.
The 41-year-old actor served six days and was freed pending his appeal.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, claimed in 2019 two men assaulted him in downtown Chicago, spouted racial and homophobic slurs and tossed a noose around his neck, leading to a massive search for suspects by Chicago police detectives and kicking up an international uproar.
Smollett was on the television drama “Empire,” which filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.
His attorneys have argued that Smollett has been victimized by a racist and politicized justice system.
“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,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the conclusion of her opinion.
WBBM's Mike Krauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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