Jussie Smollett conviction overturned

[samhexum]

In a stunning move, the Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the convictions for former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, finding that a special prosecutor’s decision to retry him violated his rights after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office previously dropped all charges against him.

The high court’s decision turns another page in perhaps the most controversial and closely-watched low-level felony case in Illinois in recent years.

“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,” the opinion 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 court remanded the case to the trial court to enter a dismissal.

Edited November 21, 2024 by samhexum
because he's bored as hell

[BuffaloKyle]

He was ordered to serve 5 months in jail so for all the time, money, and energy spent on this case it's time to just let it go. He has forever tarnished his name and image which can never be undone anyway.

[+ JEC]

Agree, he is ruined....a pathetic loser.  That is punishment enough.

[Archangel]

I guess Trump won’t need to pardon him! 🤣 

(I don’t care about the legal background of pardons. It’s meant to be stupid funny.)

[+ nycman]

He’s still guilty as sin. 

The courts can’t change the fact that he’s a asswipe.

[BuffaloKyle]

2 hours ago, Archangel said:

I guess Trump won’t need to pardon him! 🤣 

(I don’t care about the legal background of pardons. It’s meant to be stupid funny.)

I still have to say it just in case anyone is wondering about it. Trump wouldn't be able to as he could only pardon federal crimes. The state governor would be the one to pardon in this case.

[Archangel]

3 hours ago, BuffaloKyle said:

I still have to say it just in case anyone is wondering about it. Trump wouldn't be able to as he could only pardon federal crimes. The state governor would be the one to pardon in this case.

Yes. Thank you. Hence my parenthetical…

You had to ruin whatever humor was potentially there…

[BSR]

Does anyone know what happened to the lawsuit against Smollett?  The Chicago PD sued him for overtime costs incurred by the investigation into Smollett's hate crime hoax, but I couldn't find anything about the outcome.

[caliguy]

I'd say that many more if not most were very satisfied with the Resolution of his last conviction.

At least he got to use his celebrity friends and wealth to get the best Justice that money can buy. 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2024 by caliguy

[BuffaloKyle]

17 hours ago, BSR said:

Does anyone know what happened to the lawsuit against Smollett?  The Chicago PD sued him for overtime costs incurred by the investigation into Smollett's hate crime hoax, but I couldn't find anything about the outcome.

From this article:

Court overturns Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges he staged attack on himself

WWW.PBS.ORG

---

The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges that he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and...

He was sentenced to 150 days in jail — six of which he served before he was freed pending appeal — and was ordered to pay about $130,000 in restitution. Webb noted that Chicago officials can still pursue their civil case against Smollett that seeks to recoup the $130,000, the amount police say they paid in overtime to pursue Smollett’s accusations.

[+ sniper]

On 11/22/2024 at 12:18 AM, BSR said:

Does anyone know what happened to the lawsuit against Smollett?  The Chicago PD sued him for overtime costs incurred by the investigation into Smollett's hate crime hoax, but I couldn't find anything about the outcome.

I would imagine he's burned through all his money and his future earnings prospects are dim at best, so it's probably not worth the cost of litigation for the plaintiffs to pursue.

[marylander1940]

He made life difficult for all real victims of hate crimes and he's guilty as sin. 

 

[NJF]

9 hours ago, sniper said:

I would imagine he's burned through all his money and his future earnings prospects are dim at best, so it's probably not worth the cost of litigation for the plaintiffs to pursue.

I follow him on Instagram and he seems to be doing well with his film projects.

[+ sniper]

You can be pretty active in film and not making much money at all.  He might be getting floated by family.

[marylander1940]

12 hours ago, NJF said:

I follow him on Instagram and he seems to be doing well with his film projects.

I am not surprised.

With the scandal he became more famous / infamous than ever before.

Edited November 27, 2024 by marylander1940

[caliguy]

13 hours ago, NJF said:

I follow him on Instagram and he seems to be doing well with his film projects.

Not according to the reviews.

Usually just that will end someone but never stopped guys like kirk Cameron either I guess. 🫣

 

[samhexum]

1 hour ago, caliguy said:

Not according to the reviews.

What can you expect when it stars the most conceited actor in Hollywood, a woman who calls herself Viveca: A. Fox

I would never even consider calling myself Sam A. Hunk or Sam A. Stud.  When you've got it, you don't need to boast.  People just know it when they see me.

Edited November 27, 2024 by samhexum
just for the hell of it

[dutchal]

On 11/26/2024 at 2:14 PM, sniper said:

I would imagine he's burned through all his money and his future earnings prospects are dim at best, so it's probably not worth the cost of litigation for the plaintiffs to pursue.

Judgments are usually good for a long time, like twenty years, so the city could sit on it and wait to see if he ever gets enough assets to pursue.

[+ sniper]

3 hours ago, dutchal said:

Judgments are usually good for a long time, like twenty years, so the city could sit on it and wait to see if he ever gets enough assets to pursue.

But do they survive bankruptcy? I'd think he'd just file.

[+ WilliamM]

On 11/26/2024 at 8:00 PM, marylander1940 said:

He made life difficult for all real victims of hate crimes and he's guilty as sin. 

 

True but he has a nice ass to

[BuffaloKyle]

On 11/27/2024 at 8:39 PM, sniper said:

But do they survive bankruptcy? I'd think he'd just file.

He would have to show the court he has no assets or money which he does I would think. He gets some sort of royalty checks from Empire. Rudy Giuliani tried filing for example and the court wouldn't let him and he owes $150 million!  I don't think the court would ever think Jussie couldn't pay $130,000 then.

[+ sniper]

The reason they didn't let Giuliani file was he was flouting the process, moving stuff out of his apartments into storage units where the owner wouldn't allow the creditors in, turning over the car but not the keys or title,etc.

[+ azdr0710]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jussie-smollett-reaches-settlement-city-chicago-6-years-alleged-hoax-a-rcna204223

 

[CuriousByNature]

There are times when society makes me shake my head.  What Smollett did was wrong and very stupid, and the level of vitriol that was directed at him when the story first broke was pretty high.  Completely out of proportion for his crime, compared to many people's reactions to Luigi M who murdered someone on the street.

[d.anders]

8 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

the level of vitriol that was directed at him when the story first broke was pretty high.  Completely out of proportion for his crime

Jussie Smollett was a young, attractive, gay, Black actor on a hit TV network show, making supposedly $125,000 per episode at the time of the blow-up. By simple definition, he was "privileged." In America, privileged people are not permitted to fail. If they fall from public grace, they typically receive out-of-proportion attention. This particular crime infuriated the law enforcement community all across America, and their family members. Many gays were not happy about it either. The details generated increasingly emotional reactions, and that fury explains the high level of vitriol. Not sure it was out of proportion at all.