Jussie Smollett’s Conviction In Hate Crime Hoax Overturned, Social Media Still Properly Roasts Him

Source: Steven Ferdman / Getty

As if there haven’t been enough twists and turns in Jussie Smollett‘s 2019 hate crime hoax case, now his conviction has been overturned.

In 2021, he was charged with faking a racist and homophobic hate crime, filing a false report, and lying to the police. However, his lawyers say the charges violated his Fifth Amendment because they mirrored what he faced in 2019 at the hands of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, likely citing double jeopardy.

Thanks to a deal, those 2019 charges were dropped in exchange for Smollett paying $10,000—which technically meant forfeiting 10% of his $100,000 bond—and performing 16 hours of community service.

But then Foxx was accused of favoritism in the case, which the court categorized as“based upon familiarity with potential witnesses in this case,” so she removed herself from the case. Eventually, in 2021, he was charged with similar crimes, including six felony counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports.

In the second case, he was sentenced to 150 days in jail, ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago, fined $25,000, and sentenced to 30 months probation. He ended up only sitting behind bars for 6 days before being released on bond while his case was appealed.

According to the Washington Post, Justice Elizabeth Rochford’s new ruling was less based on the case’s facts than on the agreement that the courts needed to enforce.

“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,” Justice Rochford said. “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.”

The drama stems from a Jan. 29, 2019, event where Smollett contacted the police claiming he was attacked by two MAGA individuals who hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him, tossed a noose around his neck, and poured chemicals on him.

However, a subsequent police investigation determined that the actor coordinated it all because he wasn’t satisfied with Empire‘s response to his complaint about the hate mail he received. Cops also discovered that he knew the two “racists” who attacked him were actually acquaintances, and he paid them to do it.

Smollett has stood his ground, saying the attack happened and even countersued against the city of Chicago because of all the court of public opinions response, alleging he was the victim of “mass public ridicule and harm.”

See how social media is reacting to the overturned conviction below.

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