The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned a conviction against Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist and homophobic hate crime against himself in 2019. 

In January of that year, the actor told police that he had been attacked by two men in his downtown Chicago neighbourhood. He claimed that they shouted slurs at him and tossed a noose around his neck, yelling that he was in “MAGA country”, a reference to Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan. 

The report prompted a search for the suspects, with investigators later announcing that they believed it was a hoax. Prosecutors alleged that Smollett, who was filming Empire in Chicago, orchestrated the attack because he was unhappy with his studio’s response to hate mail he received. The two men involved later testified that the TV star paid them $3,500 to stage the event, but Smollett maintained that “there was no hoax” and he was the victim of a crime.

While the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped all initial charges against the actor, it prompted outrage, leading a special prosecutor, US Attorney Dan Webb, to be assigned to the case. A grand jury then restored charges, leading to Smollett’s 2021 conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct.

He was sentenced to 150 days in jail, serving only six before he was freed pending appeal. He was also ordered to pay roughly $130,000 in restitution.

In the decision delivered on Thursday, November 21, the state’s highest court found that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after Smollett reached a deal with the Cook County state’s attorney.

In the ruling, Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote: “We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust…Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.”

Webb disagreed with the court’s 5-0 opinion, adding that it “has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence”.

“The Illinois Supreme Court did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a fake hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was guilty of five counts of felony disorderly conduct,” Webb noted.

While Smollett declined to comment through a publicist, his attorney Nenya Uche said he is happy and relieved, although disappointed to have been “dragged through an unfair process”.

“Even though this is over now and Jussie just absolutely wants to move his life forward, people should start asking questions. How did this happen? Why should this even happen? What can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?”