Illinois Supreme Court tosses Jussie Smollett conviction

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the actor’s conviction on charges of lying to police and staging a fake hate crime. The justices threw out the conviction because it stemmed from a prosecution that violated a previous agreement with Smollett.

How did we get here? In March 2019, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx agreed to drop 16 criminal charges against Smollett for faking that he was a victim of a hate crime if he performed community service and paid $10,000 to forfeit his bail bond, the court said. Smollett honored his side of the bargain.

But roughly a year later, special prosecutor Dan Webb indicted Smollett again, charging him with committing six criminal offenses. Webb’s investigation also looked into Foxx’s handling and prosecution of the case. Smollett tried to stop the prosecution by arguing that it placed him in double jeopardy, however, Webb obtained a conviction on five counts. Smollett then appealed after receiving his conviction. An appeals court panel ultimately sided with prosecutors in a split ruling.

What does this mean now? Smollett’s conviction is no longer valid, the state Supreme Court said. The justices further wrote that the prosecution could not charge a defendant again if they dropped the charges the first time as part of a deal in which the defendant honored his side of the bargain.

Dig deeper: Read Daniel Darling’s column in WORLD Opinions about the meaning of the case against Jussie Smollett.