The Illinois Supreme Court officially overturned Jussie Smollett's conviction in his hate crime hoax case on Thursday (November 21), according to TMZ. Moreover, they spoke with Jussie's attorney Nenye Uche about the news. "Obviously, we're ecstatic, we're happy," he remarked. "But really, my position is, it shouldn't have gone this far. This prosecution was not a prosecution, it was a persecution. [...] One thing I want to really emphasize here is this was not a divided court. This was a unanimous decision. [...] [Smollett] was very pleasantly surprised." For those unaware, he received a 150-day jail sentence back in 2022 for staging a hate crime against himself.
Since then, Jussie Smollett went through a few different processes of appeal, seeing doors shut in his face before the Illinois Supreme Court heard him out. As such, this new ruling means that he will not have to fulfill his original sentence and cannot face another trial. State's Attorney Kim Foxx reached a plea deal with the actor that made him forfeit his $10,000 bond and fulfill 15 hours of community service. Per the court, since he fulfilled these hours and more, he shouldn't have faced a second prosecution, which is when he went to jail before entering appeal.
Jussie Smollett Conviction Overturned
Previously, Jussie Smollett had received a 30-month probation sentence as part of this 150-day prison sentence. "Today we resolve a question about the State's responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants. The State is bound by the agreement," the Illinois Supreme Court wrote of this latest update. They actually did not focus on the details of the case and allegations themselves, but rather on the deal that the prosecution and the defense originally struck.
Sadly, though, this good news for Jussie Smollett comes amid less heartening material, such as his mother almost falling victim to burglary. Two men reportedly attempted to break into her home, but they quickly left the Los Angeles property when she realized what was going on and confronted them. Regardless, this must alleviate that stress at least a little bit, as he's been dealing with this for a long time. We'll see what else Smollett and his family have to say about all this.