Video shows Jussie Smollett as he was booked into Cook County Jail last month
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Video obtained by CBS 2 shows Jussie Smollett's first moments in the Cook County Jail last month.
We obtained body cam video from the Cook County Sheriff's office from March 10, after Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail by Criminal Court Judge James Linn. He only ended up serving six days.
The video shows Smollett calmly walking into the jail from the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building, answering questions, and eventually changing into a jail uniform.
He later receives a medical evaluation.
On Thursday, March 10, Judge Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months' probation for fabricating a racist, homophobic hate crime against himself. Linn ordered that Smollett spend the first 150 days, or about five months, of that probation in jail. By statute, Smollett would have received a day's credit for each day he served, and thus would only have served a total of 75 days.
After announcing the sentence, Linn asked Smollett if he had any questions, to which Smollett said, "No, I would just like to say to your honor that I am not suicidal. That's what I would like to say."
"I am not suicidal. I am innocent, and I am not suicidal. If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years, and the fears of the LGBT community," Smollett said. "Your honor, I respect you, and I respect the jury, but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal, and if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that. I respect you, your honor, I respect your decision."
"Jail time?" he added, with a shake of his head and a clap of his hands, "I am not suicidal."
Upon being escorted from the courtroom to go to jail a short time later, Smollett raised his fist and yelled: "I am not suicidal! I am not suicidal, and I'm innocent! I could have said that I was guilty a long time ago!"
On Wednesday, March 16, the First Illinois Appellate Court District, Fifth Division ordered a stay on Smollett's jail term and granted him bond, on the grounds that he was convicted of nonviolent offenses and the appellate court would not be able to hear and rule on his appeal before his sentence was up.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, had told police he was attacked as he was walking home on Lower North Water Street around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2019. He claimed two masked men – one of them also wearing a red hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured a chemical on him.
Cook County prosecutors dropped the original 16 disorderly conduct charges against Smollett in March 2019, just over a month after Chicago police had accused him of orchestrating a hoax. The charges were dropped after Foxx forfeited the $10,000 bail he had posted after his arrest. He also had performed 16 hours of community service with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
In August 2019, August, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin appointed Dan Webb, a former federal prosecutor, as a special prosecutor in the Smollett case; tasking him to not only investigate Foxx's handling of the case, but to decide whether Smollett should be further prosecuted on charges of staging the fake hate crime against himself. A new indictment and trial followed, and Smollett was convicted in December.
