Jussie Smollett Ordered Released On Bond Pending Appeal
An appeals court sided with Jussie Smollett Wednesday and ruled the Empire actor recently convicted of staging a hate hoax in 2019 should be released on bond pending the outcome of his appeal.
The surprise order, which is contingent upon Smollett signing a $150,000 personal recognizance bond, followed less than a week after a Cook County judge sentenced Smollett to five months in a Chicago jail following his conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct.
Smollett’s family and legal team argued in an emergency motion filed after he was taken into custody that his disputed jail term would be over by the time his pending appeal is resolved. They further claimed “vicious threats” and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic put him at risk of physical harm if he remained in Cook County Jail.
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“At this point, our biggest priority is getting our brother out of jail. He’s a strong individual, but it’s not right. It’s traumatic. It’s a mental marathon. We want to get him out,” brother Jocqui Smollett told Rolling Stone on Tuesday.
Special Prosecutor Dan Webb opposed Smollett’s motion for release, writing in a Wednesday filing that the actor was relying on “half-truths and misleading statements, at best, to manufacture an alleged emergency,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
“Not only is Smollett not being held in solitary confinement, but the Cook County sheriff’s office (has) made public the specific measures that are being taken to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of Mr. Smollett while he serves his jail term,” Webb wrote.
Cook County sheriff’s officials said in a statement Tuesday that Smollett had been relocated to the new cell after he was first placed in one with a bed that could be outfitted with restraints.
“Mr. Smollett was never restrained to a bed or anything else in the cell. The bed was never equipped with restraints,” the department said.
“The safety and security of all detained individuals, including Mr. Smollett, is the Sheriff’s Office’s highest priority,” the statement said.
Smollett’s bizarre case dates back to January 2019, when he first told police that two men disguised in balaclava-style masks hung a noose around his neck and yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him during an assault on a snowy street outside his Chicago apartment.
In the weeks following his report, Smollett himself became a suspect in the incident, with authorities accusing him of staging the attack with help from Nigeria-born brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo.
The brothers testified at trial that Smollett paid them to stage the attack. Smollett maintained his innocence through defiant testimony, but a jury convicted him on all but one count on Dec. 9, 2021.
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