Jussie Smollett, the previous Empire actor who was convicted of staging a racist and anti-gay assault in opposition to himself, was sentenced to 150 days in jail on Thursday.
Cook dinner County Choose James Linn additionally ordered Smollett to pay $120,106 in restitution and $25,000 in fines.
“I consider that you simply did injury to actual hate crimes — to hate crime victims,” Linn informed Smollett earlier than saying his sentence. The choose acknowledged that he couldn’t say “for positive how a lot injury there was,” however he stated he hoped that different victims wouldn’t be dissuaded from coming ahead and that authorities wouldn’t be extra skeptical of victims who’re keen to report such crimes.
Smollett’s sentencing comes greater than three years after the actor, now 39, informed Chicago police that two males yelling racist and anti-gay slurs attacked him, poured a chemical on him, and tied a rope round his neck. The Jan. 29, 2019, allegations and the following unraveling of Smollett’s story attracted nonstop protection within the press as the town tried to recoup prices related to the investigation and officers struggled with whether or not to prosecute the actor, who has maintained in court docket and in public that he didn’t fabricate the assault.
Police initially arrested two brothers who had been background actors on the Fox drama collection however launched them after investigators stated new proof had surfaced throughout their questioning. Authorities then accused Smollett of paying the boys $3,500 to stage the assault to be able to generate sympathetic media protection.
However weeks after indicting Smollett, the Cook dinner County state’s legal professional’s workplace dismissed the case in trade for him forfeiting his $10,000 bond and agreeing to 2 days of neighborhood service. In February 2020, particular prosecutor Dan Webb unveiled a brand new grand jury indictment in opposition to the actor, discovering “additional prosecution of Mr. Smollett is within the pursuits of justice.”
In December, a jury discovered Smollett responsible on 5 of the six felony counts of disorderly conduct for making a false report back to police {that a} grand jury had indicted him with in 2020. Jurors decided that he was not responsible on one depend of disorderly conduct for falsely claiming he was the sufferer of aggravated assault.
Every depend has a most of three years in jail, although authorized specialists have stated it is uncommon that defendants convicted of those expenses, that are class 4 felonies, get jail time.
Smollett’s attorneys not too long ago filed paperwork asking that the court docket both grant him a brand new trial or vacate his conviction. Within the 83-page doc, they argued {that a} multitude of authorized errors with the method allowed the second prosecution to maneuver ahead and that Smollett’s constitutional rights have been violated at trial as a result of the court docket didn’t permit them to ask potential jurors sure questions throughout jury choice.
“We must always have by no means been right here to start with,” Tina Glandian, one of many actor’s attorneys, informed the court docket Thursday afternoon. “We consider it was authorized error to proceed.”
Earlier than persevering with on with sentencing, Linn denied that request, saying that he believed Smollett acquired a good trial and that he stood by his and the opposite judges’ earlier rulings relating to the pretrial points raised by the protection. Smollett’s authorized crew has stated they might enchantment the decision.
Throughout Thursday’s listening to, Smollett’s 92-year-old grandmother, certainly one of his brothers, the music director for his present Empire, and the previous government director of a nonprofit he labored with spoke in favor of a lenient sentence as they described the contributions he is made to his neighborhood all through his life. Joel Smollett Jr. stated his brother has already suffered greater than sufficient because of the incident and the following protection within the press.
