On Friday (December 1), an Illinois appeals court upheld Jussie Smollett's conviction for his hoax attack, with a three-judge panel voting 2-1.
After being convicted in 2022, Jussie spent 6 days in the Cook County Jail before he was released while he appealed his sentence. Now that the conviction has been upheld, many suspect that Jussie will return to jail in Chicago to serve the remainder of his 150-day sentence.
Jussie's lawyers have the option to appeal this decision to the Illinois Supreme Court, which will decide whether to hear the case.
Smollett's legal team has argued that the trial violated his Fifth Amendment protections against double jeopardy. They stated that Jussie is being punished for the same crime twice after he forfeited his $10,000 bond payment and agreed to perform 16 hours of community service when Cook County prosecutors dropped the original charges. However, the judge ruled that the deal was invalid and brought a new set of disorderly conduct charges against Smollett in February 2021, of which he was convicted.
Source: AP
