IL Supreme Court overturns Smollett conviction

The Illinois Supreme Court is overturning Jussie Smollett’s disorderly conduct conviction.  The state’s high court ruled that a special prosecutor’s decision to retry the former “Empire” actor over allegations he staged a hate crime against himself violated his rights because he had already entered into an agreement with the office of Cook County state’s attorney’s Kim Foxx to dismiss his case.  Smollett was convicted of disorderly conduct in December 2021 for lying to police about being the victim of a 2019 phony racist and homophobic attack in Chicago.  He served six days of a five-month jail sentence before being released to wait out his appeals.