Published: March 10, 2022
By: Gabrielle Fonrouge
CHICAGO – The Jussie Smollett saga came to a dramatic end Thursday when a Chicago judge ordered him to spend five months behind bars for concocting a “disgraceful” scheme to fake a hate crime, prompting the actor to scream out in protest: “I’m innocent!”
“I could’ve said I was guilty a long time ago!” Smollett bellowed as he was led away in handcuffs and remanded into custody.
“I did not do this and I am not suicidal and if anything happens to me when I go there, I did not do it to myself and you must all know that.”
Before handing down his sentence, Judge James Linn asked Smollett if he’d like to say anything but he declined, with his attorney Nenye Uche explaining he advised against it because of their plans to appeal the conviction.
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But following a lengthy monologue from Linn, who excoriated Smollett for pretending to be a hate crime victim, Smollett started shouting to the court when he learned he’d be going to jail, appearing to imply there was some kind of conspiracy against him.
Actor Jussie Smollett is led out of the courtroom after being sentenced at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Chicago. Jussie Smollett maintained his innocence during his sentencing hearing Thursday after a judge sentenced the former “Empire” actor to 150 days in jail for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he orchestrated himself.
Jussie Smollett gestures as he’s led out of the courtroom after being sentenced on March 10, 2022, in Chicago. - Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune via AP
Jussie Smollett appears at his sentencing hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. - AP
Ola Osundairo arrives with his attorney Gloria Schmidt Rodriguez for actor Jussie Smollett’s sentencing hearing after Smollett was found guilty of staging a hate crime. - REUTERS
“I am not suicidal. I am innocent and I’m not suicidal. If I did this, then it means that I shoved my fist in the fears of black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBTQ community,” Smollett shouted.
“Your honor, I respect you and I respect your decision, but I did not do this and I am not suicidal. If anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that.”
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Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of probation, the first five of which he must spend in the Cook County jail, and ordered him to pay the city of Chicago $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine after he was found guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct following his eight-day trial late last year.
As he delivered his sentence, Linn called the actor a “disgrace” and said his performance during the trial, in which he testified on his own behalf, was “pure perjury.”
“You’re not the victim of a racist hate crime, you’re not the victim of a homopobic hate crime, you’re just a charlatan pretending to be the victim of a hate crime and that’s shameful especially,” Linn told the court.
Smollett stands with his lawyers at his sentencing hearing on Thursday. - AP
The rope used during Jussie Smollett’s staged hate crime.
“You have another side of you that is profoundly arrogant and selfish and narcissistic and that bad side of you came out during the course of this,” the judge continued.
“Your performance on the witness stand, this can only be described as pure perjury. You got on the witness stand … you committed hour upon hour upon hour of pure perjury.
“Your very name has become an adverb for lying and I cannot imagine what could be worse than that.”
As Smollett was removed from the courtroom by members of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, his legal team made a series of oral motions to challenge the sentence, all of which Linn “respectfully denied.”
Smollett paid two Nigerian-born brothers, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, to carry out an attack on him to promote his career because he was “dissatisfied with his salary on ‘Empire,'” according to court papers. - AP (2)
Jussie Smollett crying during his sentencing hearing. - AP
“The wheels of justice turn slowly sometimes, the hammer of justice has to fall and it’s falling right here, right now,” he said.
The felony raps Smollett was convicted of carry a maximum sentence of three years behind bars and while experts said previously he was unlikely to see jail time given his mostly clean criminal record and the non-violent nature of the charges, his decision to take the stand in his own defense ultimately weighed against him, Linn said.
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Throughout five hours of testimony over the course of two days, the former “Empire” actor vehemently maintained there “was no hoax” and at times, grew defensive and combative under cross-examination by special prosecutor Dan Webb.
Further compounding the issue is the premeditated nature of the crime, the resources Smollett stole from genuine crime victims and the impact his lies will have on future hate crime cases, Linn said.
“Hate crimes are the absolute worst and I believe you did damage to real hate crime victims. There are people who are actual genuine victims of hate crimes that you did damage to,” Linn railed.
The sentence comes more than three years after Smollett asked two men to “fake beat him up,” tie a noose around his neck, douse him in bleach and shout racist and homophobic slurs at him on a street corner near his Streeterville apartment in the middle of a polar vortex.
Tina Glandian, an attorney for Jussie Smollett, presents to the judge during his sentencing hearing Thursday, - AP
The former chief of the Chicago Police Department previously said Smollett planned the hoax so he could get a raise on the set of “Empire,” but Linn disagreed with that notion and said the actor was purely motivated by the pursuit of “attention” and a “national pity party.”
“You knew this was a sore spot for everybody in this country and you knew this was a country slowly trying to heal … you took some scabs off some healing wounds and you ripped them apart for one reason: You wanted to make yourself more famous,” Linn seethed.
“Why would you betray something like social justice issues that you care so much about? The only thing I can conclude is … you have another side of you that is profoundly arrogant and selfish and narcissistic and that bad side of you came out during the course of this.”
Jussie Smollett listens as his sentence is read at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, in Chicago, Illinois. - via REUTERS
Jussie Smollett speaks after his sentence is read. - via REUTERS
Jussie Smollett’s mug shot taken after this sentencing. - Cook County Sheriff's Office
Before Linn delivered the sentence, the court spent hours listening to statements from Smollett’s relatives and letters written by his supporters who implored Linn to impose a lenient punishment with no jail time. Every single one of the letters and statements touched on Smollett’s passion for social justice and long, documented history of giving back to the community.
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