SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overruled the actor Jussie Smolletts conviction on charges of orchestrating a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and lying to Chicago police, saying he should not have been charged a second time after reaching a deal with prosecutors.

The ruling, which did not take into account Smollett’s continued claims of innocence, marked a stunning turnaround in a case that became part of a polarized political landscape.

Smollett, who is black and gay, told police in January 2019 that two men attacked him in his downtown Chicago neighborhood, shouting profanities, throwing a noose around his neck and yelling that he was in “MAGA land.” ‘, a clear reference to Donald. Trump’s campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again’. The report, which made headlines around the world, led to a massive search for suspects by Chicago police before investigators announced they believed the attack was a hoax.

The the state’s highest court found that a special prosecutor should not have intervened after Smollett reached a deal with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in which charges against him were dropped in exchange for forfeiting his $10,000 bond and performing community service. The appointment caused outrage in part because it contained no condition that Smollett apologize or admit to staging the attack.

“We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and felt it was unjust,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s 5-0 opinion. “Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any criminal case would be for this court to find that the state is not obliged to honor agreements on which people have harmfully relied.”

Smollett appeared in the television drama “Empire,” which was filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received. Testimony at the trial revealed that he paid $3,500 to two men he knew from “Empire” to carry it out. Smollett testified that “there was no deception” and that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Smollett declined to comment through a publicist Thursday. His lawyer Nenye Uche thanked the court for “restoring order to Illinois criminal jurisprudence.”

“This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive prosecution and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system,” Uche said.

The special counsel, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb, said he disagreed with the court’s ruling but noted that it “has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence.”

“The Illinois Supreme Court found no error in the overwhelming evidence presented at trial that Mr. Smollett orchestrated a false hate crime and reported it to the Chicago Police Department as a real hate crime, or the jury’s unanimous verdict that Mr. Smollett was a true hate crime. guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct,” Webb said.

After Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office decreased After the first 16 disorderly conduct charges, the backlash was swift, with then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling it “a whitewash of justice.” Webb was appointed special prosecutor and a grand jury reinstated the indictment, leading to Smollett’s conviction in 2021. five charges of disorderly conduct.

Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail, six of which he served before released pending appeal – and was ordered to pay approximately $130,000 in restitution. Chicago officials are seeking reimbursement for that amount of police overtime through a civil case.

Foxx told The Associated Press that she was not surprised that the Supreme Court found her handling of the case “appropriate — if unpopular, proper.” She criticized Webb’s subsequent “legal machinations,” which she said ignored the principle of prosecutorial discretion and left the issue in “the same position we found ourselves in in March 2019.”

“What they did by going to court to prosecute someone again because you didn’t like the outcome would have set a horrible precedent where anyone could come in and undermine the work of the prosecution,” Foxx said. has not applied for a third term this year.

Eileen O’Neill Burke, the incoming Cook County State’s Attorneydeclined to comment.

Smollett, a child actor who appeared in the 1992 film “The Mighty Ducks,” has credited his role as a singer in the hip-hop drama “Empire” to turbocharging his career. This year he starred in the film “The Lost Holliday” with Vivica A. Fox.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis and Justice Joy Cunningham did not participate in Thursday’s decision.

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Tareen reported from Chicago.