SPRINGFIELD, Ill.
AP
—

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett on charges that he carried out a racist and homophobic attack on himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police.

The state’s highest court ruled that a special prosecutor should not have intervened after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office initially dropped charges against Smollett in exchange for forfeiting his $10,000 bond and performing community service. The ruling and appeal did not address Smollett’s continued claim of innocence.

Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed two men attacked him, shouted racist and homophobic slurs and threw a noose around his neck, sparking a massive search for suspects by Chicago police detectives and causing an international outcry. 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.

“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 believed it was unjust,” Judge Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the 5-0 decision. “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’s attorneys have argued that the case was over when Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped an initial 16 charges of disorderly conduct. A grand jury reinstated the indictment after a special prosecutor heard the case. A jury convicted Smollett of five counts of disorderly conduct in 2021.

Email messages seeking comment were sent Thursday to Foxx’s office and Smollett’s attorney, who alleged that Smollett has been the victim of a racist and politicized justice system.

Testimony at his trial revealed that Smollett paid $3,500 to two men he knew from “Empire” to carry out the attack. Prosecutors said he told them what insults to shout and told them to shout that Smollett was in “MAGA country,” an apparent reference to the slogan of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Smollett testified that “there was no hoax” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.

He was sentenced to 150 days in jail – six of which he served before being released pending appeal – 30 months probation and ordered to pay approximately $130,000 in restitution.

A state appeals court ruling upheld Smollett’s conviction, stating that no one promised Smollett he would not face new charges after accepting the original deal.

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