In a dramatic legal twist, the Illinois Supreme Court has overturned actor Jussie Smollett's conviction for fabricating a 2019 hate crime, ruling that the state must honor its agreements with defendants. The court emphasized that it is fundamentally unfair for the prosecution to renege on deals relied upon by defendants to their detriment.
Special Prosecutor Dan K. Webb expressed disappointment with the decision, which nullified Smollett's sentence and $120,000 restitution to Chicago. Smollett's attorney, Mark Geragos, hailed the ruling as a victory for due process, referencing the Bill Cosby case to underscore the precedence of constitutional rights over prosecution.
Special Prosecutor Dan K. Webb expressed disappointment with the decision, which nullified Smollett's sentence and $120,000 restitution to Chicago. Smollett's attorney, Mark Geragos, hailed the ruling as a victory for due process, referencing the Bill Cosby case to underscore the precedence of constitutional rights over prosecution.
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00:00In a major legal twist, the Illinois Supreme Court has overturned actor, singer, and songwriter
00:05Jussie Smollett's conviction for lying about a 2019 hate crime. On Thursday, the court ruled
00:11that the Illinois Supreme Court addressed the state's responsibility to honor agreements made
00:15with defendants stating, it is fundamentally unfair to allow prosecution to renege on a deal
00:20with a defendant when the defendant has relied on the agreement to its detriment. Special
00:24Prosecutor Dan K. Webb also released a statement after the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Jussie
00:29Smollett's conviction and sentence. He pointed to a non-prosecution agreement the Cook County
00:34State's Attorney's Office made with Smollett five months before Webb was appointed. We are
00:38disappointed in the Illinois Supreme Court's decision today to overturn Jussie Smollett's
00:42conviction and sentence, including the award of over $120,000 in restitution to the City of
00:48Chicago for its overtime expenses in investigating Mr. Smollett's fake hate crime. We respectfully
00:54disagree with the court's factual and legal reasoning, which upends long-standing Illinois'
00:59precedent. As many recall, the former Empire actor was found guilty in 2021 for faking a racist and
01:05homophobic attack. At that time, Smollett alleged that two men attacked him, hurling racial and
01:09homophobic slurs and placing a noose around his neck. This led to an extensive search for suspects
01:14by Chicago police detectives and sparked an international uproar. In December of 2021,
01:20a jury found Smollett guilty on five out of six felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing a
01:25false release report and lying to police, who spent over $130,000 investigating his claims.
01:31He was sentenced to 150 days in county jail, ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution to the
01:36City of Chicago, fined $25,000 and given 30 months of felony probation. The case was reopened in June
01:432019 when a Cook County judge appointed a special prosecutor to review the decision to demiss all
01:49charges against Smollett. As a result, the actor was indicted again in February 2020 on six felony
01:55counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports to the police. Smollett's lawyer argued
02:01this violated his Fifth Amendment rights, as Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx had initially
02:06agreed to drop the charges if Smollett paid $10,000 and did community service. Smollett's
02:11attorney Mark Garagos also released a statement after the court's decision saying,
02:16Today we resolve a question about the state's responsibility to honor the agreements it makes
02:21with defendants. We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process
02:26violation and we therefore reverse the defendant's conviction. In its ruling, the Illinois Supreme
02:32Court referenced the Bill Cosby case in Pennsylvania highlighting that while society has a
02:36strong interest in prosecuting crimes, this interest cannot override the constitutional rights of
02:40individuals and the remedy for constitutional violation must take precedence over the pursuit
02:46of prosecution.