Posted on 09/19/2024 9:07:24 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
More than five years after Jussie Smollett staged a phony hate crime against himself, and nearly three years since his conviction by a Chicago jury, lawyers for the former Empire actor are asking the Illinois supreme court to overturn the guilty verdict.
Defense attorney Nenye Uche argued on Tuesday that Smollett’s case should never have gone to trial because the actor had already entered into a binding agreement with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office not to prosecute him in exchange for him voluntarily agreeing to forfeit his $10,000 bond and perform community service, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Uche asked the justices to send the case back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing to determine if a contractual non-prosecution deal had been reached. Special prosecutors countered that the deal had been honored when the original case was dropped and prosecutors in state attorney Kim Foxx’s office declined to pursue charges, according to the paper. But special prosecutor Sean Weiber said that because the case wasn’t dismissed “with prejudice,” it didn’t preclude prosecutors from refiling charges. He cited “40 years of legal precedent” that Smollett’s experienced legal team knew of.......
Chicago police spent more than 3,000 hours investigating Smollett’s allegation. They eventually determined that the attack was a hoax, and that Smollett had conspired with two brothers, black extras on Empire, to stage the attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
ALSO-—REIMBURSEMENT FOR DESTROYING A TV SHOW.
ALOT OF PEOPLE LOST THEIR WORK.
His conviction was recently confirmed on appeal.
The conviction was a travesty of justice ONLY because he should have been charged and convicted of no less than a HATE CRIME. He hatefully tried to implicate a whole group of people, white people, by committing a crime to do it.
I’m thinking 10 years to life for this one.
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