Illinois Supreme Court hears Jussie Smollett's appeal
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) — The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday heard former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's appeal of his convictions for orchestrating a hate crime hoax.
Smollett claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack near his Streeterville apartment in January 2019 after he walked several blocks for a Subway sandwich shop.
After police investigated his claims, detectives later focused on Smollett himself, and he was charged with staging a fate hate crime against himself with brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who later testified he paid them to stage the attack.
Smollett's case
Cook County prosecutors dropped those charges weeks after he was charged, but a judge later ruled that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office mishandled the case and appointed a special prosecutor to review it.
That special prosecutor later brought a new grand jury indictment against Smollett, and he was convicted of five counts of disorderly conduct and sentenced to 150 days in jail.
Smollett spent six days in jail before he was released while he appealed the verdict.
In a 2-1 decision, an Illinois Appellate Court panel rejected Smollett's arguments that his trial violated his Fifth Amendment protections against double jeopardy.
The appeals court decision found that Smollett was not denied due process, ruling that there was no evidence prosecutors had agreed not to prosecute Smollett further when the initial charges against him were dropped in exchange for him forfeiting his $10,000 bond and performing 16 hours of community service.
But Appellate Justice Freddrenna Lyle dissented in that ruling, arguing it was "fundamentally unfair" to appoint a special prosecutor to charge Smollett a second time after he'd entered an agreement he believed would end the case.
Should Smollett's appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court fail, he could take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court since he is arguing his conviction violates his Fifth Amendment protections against double jeopardy.
