Jussie Smollett is appealing his conviction for orchestrating a racist and homophobic attack on himself and lying to Chicago police about it – almost a 12 months after he was sentenced to 5 months in prison.
Based on a 102-page document filed with the Illinois Court of Appeals on Wednesday and obtained by The Post, the 40-year-old Empire graduate is looking for a recent trial because he claims the “prosecutor’s misconduct” within the case was “clear and blatant.” .
A jury convicted Smollett in December 2021 of 5 counts of disorderly conduct. He claimed that on a frosty morning in January 2019, two men approached him at midnight, shouted insults at him, hit him, poured a chemical substance on him and placed a noose around his neck.
Chicago police accused Smollett of recruiting brothers Abimbol and Olabinjo Osundairo to perform the attack as a way to advance his burgeoning Hollywood profession.
Abimbola, an amateur boxer and occasional supporting actor, testified in court that Smollett, who’s black and gay, told him that the precise words he wanted the brothers to make use of were “Empire”, ft, n–r, MAGA. “
![Jussie Smollett speaks with Judge James Linn after the sentencing was read on March 10, 2022, at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007535466-1.jpg?w=1024)
On March 10, 2022, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in prison because he continued to proclaim his innocence. He spent six days behind bars – where lawyers said he didn’t eat and drank only ice water – before being released pending appeal.
In Wednesday’s briefing, Smollett’s attorneys argued that his double jeopardy protection had been breached. Prosecutors quietly said in 2019 that they’d not prosecute 16 counts of disorderly conduct against him because he had lost his $10,000 bail to the City of Chicago and was doing community service.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has been under national scrutiny for her role in handling the case. The judge appointed a special prosecutor to review the choice of her office and recent charges were filed.
“Mr. Smollett’s negotiated bail forfeiture and community service during his first indictment constituted punishment, and subsequently his second prosecution and punishment for a similar crimes violated the protection of the double jeopardy clause against multiple punishments for a similar crime,” Smollett’s lawyers said of their transient. .
His lawyers also claimed that there had been “prosecution misconduct, including allegations that a defense witness was pressured to alter his testimony.” They usually disagreed with the trial judge’s “biased” decisions, saying his “concluding remarks showed that Mr Smollett’s conviction took on a private retaliatory tone.”
![FOX Nation will release an exclusive five-part documentary series](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000007535465-1.jpg?w=1024)
Wednesday’s appeal comes about two weeks before the premiere of FOX’s five-part documentary series Nation, “Jussie Smollett: Anatomy of a Hoax” March 13. The streamer guarantees “exclusive interviews” with Osundairo brothers and a “deep dive” within the incident that made headlines all over the world.
The Post contacted Smollett’s representatives for comment. He was dropped from “Empire” before the top of the FOX TV series in 2020. He has not acted since, but made his feature directorial debut with “B-Boy Blues”.