In 2019 actor Jussie Smollett began a hoax for which he was recently convicted. The hoax involved a fake hate crime against himself where he claimed to have been attacked by two Trump supporters. The fake crime was then reported to police.
It turns out that Smollett staged the crime which, as noted by Variety, included the following claims:
“He claimed to have been assaulted by two men who shouted homophobic and racist slurs, poured a chemical substance on him, and put a rope around his neck.”
Despite treating Smollett’s claims “as a genuine hate crime,” it wasn’t long after that “Chicago detectives ultimately concluded that Smollett had paid two men $3,500 to stage the attack.”
As further shared by Variety, however:
“Attorneys for Jussie Smollett filed their appeal of his conviction on Wednesday, as they seek to keep him from having to go back to jail on hate crime hoax charges.”
The actor was facing a 150-day jail sentence. With the appeal, however, his attorneys have argued “that the trial judge, James Linn, made a series of reversible errors, that the 150-day sentence is excessive, and that the entire prosecution should have been disallowed.”
Additionally, Smollet had been ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution to the Chicago Police Department as a result of the hate crime hoax. He was also expected to pay a $25,000 fine. But Smollett’s attorneys claim that Illinois law doesn’t allow the police department to be considered a “victim.” As a result, they believe that the restitution fee that Smollett was ordered to pay should be overturned.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding Jussie Smollett and his current situation as we have them. In the time since his initial conviction and release, Smollett has eagerly attempted to prove his innocence and even took the time to direct a gay indie movie titled B-Boy Blues which was released in 2021.
Jussie Smollett Files Appeal Challenging Hate Crime Hoax Conviction
Source: Breaking Update News
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