The Patriot Post® · Hate-Hoaxer Jussie Smollett Gets Conviction Overturned

A great injustice has occurred in Chicago. Actor Jussie Smollett, the hate-crime hoaxer, has had his conviction overturned.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruling states: “Today we resolve a question about the State’s responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants. Specifically, we address whether a dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to bring a second prosecution when the dismissal was entered as part of an agreement with the defendant and the defendant has performed his part of the bargain. We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant’s conviction.”

A bit of background: Smollett got his first 15 minutes of fame back on January 29, 2019, when he portrayed himself as the victim of a hate crime. He told Chicago police that two white, MAGA hat-wearing attackers racially and sexually slurred him, sprayed him with an unknown chemical substance, punched him, and put a noose around his neck. This apparently happened at 2 a.m. when Smollett decided to walk to Subway in subfreezing temperatures. Celebrities took to social media to show their support. The Black Lives Matter fists were raised in protest.

But about a month later, his story came crumbling down, and he was charged by police with filing a false police report. The Smollett hate crime was a hoax. Police told the public that the motive was to boost Smollett’s victimhood and improve his salary on the television show “Empire.”

Naturally, his actions could have ignited race riots, and it certainly worsened the anti-Donald Trump rhetoric (Trump Derangement Syndrome was already at fever pitch in 2019). As we have seen in recent months, that rhetoric can quickly turn to violence in the form of at least two assassination attempts on Trump.

Smollett was willing to light the country on fire just to advance his career. That’s why a special prosecutor was tasked with investigating the case. Smollett was found guilty and convicted, though he never had to serve more than six days in jail. His lawyers were successful on appeal, claiming that “his imprisonment — for what was described as a low-level, non-violent crime — was excessive and that his health and safety were in danger while he remained in prison,” according to the BBC.

This whole situation should be laid at the feet of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the George Soros-backed prosecutor keeping Chicago crime rates high. The problem began with her decision to let him off with a $100,000 bail and 15 hours of community service.

“On appeal, however, his lawyers posited a due process claim based, essentially, on a breach of contract theory,” explains former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy. “The contention was that Foxx made a contract with Smollett: She would agree not to charge him if he forfeited the bond and performed the community service. Since Smollett performed his end of the bargain, the defense theorized, Cook County was bound by Foxx’s commitment not to file charges.”

So because Foxx didn’t do her job, Smollett gets to walk free. Those who have been defamed by Smollett’s actions (i.e., Trump supporters — approximately half the country) will see no justice.

Adam B. Coleman of the New York Post put it best when he said:

Smollett is an exploiter of the weaknesses in modern America surrounding the topic of race and Donald Trump. Smollett did not care about the repercussions of perpetuating this elaborate lie as long as he benefited from our destruction. What if everyone, including law enforcement, took his accusations at face value like many other previous racial hoaxes? What if Chicagoans believed that those two mystery white MAGA men could be their neighbors, family or friends? What if they thought these sorts of random racial attacks were really happening? Predatory exploiters like Smollett are intent on robbing us of our innocence and goodwill only to pawn it for attention and career-changing adulation.

That really gets to the heart of it. People’s first impulse now is to think that a reported hate crime is likely a hoax — and that is an incredible disservice to those who have actually suffered from hate crimes, to say nothing of the plague of black-on-black violence in American cities. America’s weakness is the woke notion of a victimhood hierarchy. Smollett has two intersections that lean the scale heavily in his favor: being gay and black.

This is the ugly side of the oppressor vs. oppressed narrative: There is no justice. If it’s allowed to continue as part of the cultural conversation instead of being rooted out like the cancer it is, then there will be no way to have peace because there is no redemption for those in the “oppressor” category — only hate.