Actress Jussie Smollett, familiar from the Empire series, was released on bail for the duration of her complaint.
Actor sentenced to imprisonment for staging a hate crime against himself Jussie Smollett was released last week. He had less than a week to serve his five-month prison sentence.
Known from the Empire series, Smollett, 39, was sentenced to 150 days in prison on March 10 in Chicago after a jury found him guilty of lying to police. The sentence also included a 30-month suspended sentence, as well as compensation and fines of $ 145,000, or about € 132,000.
Smollett denied having committed the crime and said he himself had been the victim of the crime.
Smollett’s lawyers soon announced that Smollett was appealing the verdict and demanded his release for the duration of the appeal. The argument was that processing the complaint would likely take longer than the imprisonment itself, and that imprisonment was a threat to Smollett’s health and safety.
On March 16, the Illinois State Court of Appeals ruled that Smollett was released on bail of $ 150,000, or € 136,000.
In 2019, Smollett filed a criminal complaint with Chicago police saying he had been the target of a racist and homophobic attack. According to the crime report, the two attackers would, among other things, have tightened the rope around this neck.