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Smollett’s appeal argued that the special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dismissed the charges. The state’s highest court heard arguments in September.
Smollett was in a television drama Empirewho was filming in Chicago, and prosecutors claimed he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he had received.
In 2021, a jury convicted him of five counts of misconduct. Smollett has maintained his innocence.
His lawyers argued the case was over when the Cook County State’s Attorney dismissed the first 16 counts of disorderly conduct after Smollett performed community service and forfeited his $10,000 ($15,300) bond.
A grand jury returned the charges after a special prosecutor took over the case.
Testimony at his trial revealed that Smollett paid $3,500 ($5,400) to two men he knew from Empire make an attack.
Prosecutors said he told them what insults to shout and to yell that Smollett was in “MAGA land,” an apparent reference to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan.
Smollett testified that “there was no fraud” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.
He was sentenced to 150 days in jail – six of which he served before being released on appeal – 30 months of probation and ordered to pay about $US130,000 ($200,000) in restitution.
A state appeals court ruling upheld Smollett’s conviction, stating that no one promised Smollett that he would not face further prosecution after accepting the original plea deal.
His lawyers argued that Smolletta was a victim of a racist and politicized justice system.
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