The actor intends to appeal his verdict in court.
Jussie Smollett is a free man, at least momentarily. aop
Actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced last week to 150 days in prison for staging a hate crime. Now, however, Smollett has already been released – for now.
Smollet plans to appeal the court’s decision, and on Wednesday, three judges decided to release Smollett for the duration of the appeal. Smollett began serving his prison sentence last Thursday, meaning he had time to be jailed for less than a week.
The actor, familiar from the Empire series, paid a $ 150,000 guarantee for his freedom. He will get his money back if he attends future court hearings as agreed.
Smollett pleaded not guilty in court. aop
– We are really pleased with the decision of the Illinois County Court of Appeals, Smollett’s lawyer Nenye Uche says To Fox News.
– We are pleased that the pursuit of sensation and politics will be left to chance and we will finally be able to have an intelligent discussion about our laws with the Honorable Court of Appeal.
Smollett and his legal team are particularly outraged by the verdict, as charges of lying to police have already been dropped once. However, a new special prosecutor was appointed to the case, who decided to re-prosecute. Smollett has repeatedly said he is innocent of the crime.
In 2019, Smollett filed a criminal complaint with Chicago police and said he was the target of a racist and homophobic attack. He claimed two men attacked him on the street. Soon there were gaps in Smollett’s story and he was targeted by police.
In addition to the custodial sentence, Smollett was sentenced to 30 months probation and to pay $ 120,000 in compensation and fines.