The Controversial Jussie Smollett’s 2019 Conviction Over Hate Crime “Hoax,” Explained

Jussie Smollett, best known for his role on Empire and a few other shows like The Mighty Ducks, got into some serious legal trouble when he claimed he was attacked in Chicago. But things quickly turned into a huge mess when the investigation uncovered a shocking twist—he might have staged the whole thing himself.

Fast forward to 2024, and the Illinois Supreme Court has now decided to overturn his conviction. Here’s everything you need to know about the case, the conviction, and the latest ruling.

Jussie Smollett’s Hate Crime Hoax—What Really Happened?

Let’s rewind to January 2019. Jussie Smollett told police that two men attacked him outside his apartment in Chicago. He said the men shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him, and many felt sorry for Smollett, believing he was the victim of a terrible hate crime.

But as the investigation went on, things started to look less like a random attack and more like a setup. The Chicago police discovered that the two men involved in the “attack” were actually acquaintances of Smollett.

According to the police, Smollett had paid these men $3,500 to stage the whole thing (via CNN). Police also found evidence that Smollett had lied about the attack, including text messages between him and the two men.

The actor was charged with filing a false police report, a Class 4 felony. In March 2019, all charges against him were unexpectedly dropped, and the whole case seemed to disappear. This made a lot of people angry, especially because it felt like Smollett was getting off easy. There was a lot of public pressure to look into the case further.

Jussie Smollett Found Guilty in Hate Crime Retrial

But the drama wasn’t over yet. After the charges were dropped, people were still upset, so the state of Illinois decided to take another look at the case. They brought in a special prosecutor, Dan Webb, to look into whether the charges should be brought back.

In February 2020, Webb announced that Smollett would be recharged. This meant Smollett had to go back to court. In November 2021, the trial began. Smollett faced five felony charges of disorderly conduct, which means making false statements to police and wasting their time. After a lengthy trial, the jury found Smollett guilty of all charges.

According to Variety, he was sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months of probation, and ordered to pay $130,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago for the money spent investigating his case. This conviction was a big deal and felt like justice was finally served. But, of course, this is where the story takes another turn.

The Illinois Supreme Court Overturns the Conviction—Why?

In 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court decided to overturn Smollett’s conviction. Wait, what? That’s right—the court ruled that Smollett’s rights had been violated when he was retried. So, let’s break it down. The court explained that as the charges against Smollett were dropped back in 2019, the decision to retry him wasn’t fair.

It argued that the special prosecutor’s decision to bring the case back to court violated the original agreement that Smollett made when the charges were dropped. The court said (via Supreme Court of the State of Illinois):

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.

The ruling was essentially saying that, while people might feel angry about how things were handled, the court had to respect the law and the original legal process. This was a major decision because it meant Smollett wouldn’t be forced to serve the sentence from his conviction.

For many, this felt like a blow, especially since so many believed he had committed a serious crime. But for the court, it was about following the legal rules, even if they didn’t seem fair to everyone.