Jussie is released by an appeal court in the wake of his hate hoax conviction
Jussie Mollett: The disgraced “Empire”Actor found guilty of staging hate crimes against himself and felony disorderly conduct, was released by a Chicago jail after promising to attend appeals hearings.
In a 2-1 decision by the state’s First District Appellate Court on Wednesday, the judges ordered Smollett released from Cook County lockup after posting a “personal recognizance bond of $150,000.”
According to AP, this means he doesn’t actually have to put up any money, only promise to show up to court.
Smollett, actor and activist for social justice, had already spent less than a week behind bars. Smollett was sentenced to 150 days imprisonment, $25,000 in fines, 30 months probation and $120,000 in city restitution. Smollett was found guilty by a jury in December of five counts of disorderly conduct under felony, and falsely declaring that he was a victim in January of hate crimes.
Smollett started shouting after the sentence. “not suicidal”He insisted on his innocence.
“If anything happens to me when I go in there, I didn’t do it to myself,”The actor spoke as he was being removed.
Smollett’s lawyers argued that he would have completed the sentence by the time his appeal process was completed, and that he faced “physical harm”If he was kept in prison. This claim was called by the special prosecutor “factually incorrect.”
He is black and homosexual. Three years ago, he was in the limelight when two white men shouted homophobic and racist insults at him. They also shouted slogans to support then-President Donald Trump.
While Democrats – including the current president and vice-president Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – overwhelmingly supported his claim, it quickly imploded under the weight of evidence that Smollett paid two Nigerian brothers $3,500 to stage the whole thing.
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