The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned Jussie Smollett’s 2022 conviction on a charge of falsely reporting a hate crime to police. The court ruled that Smollett should not have been prosecuted a second time after the charges were initially dropped in 2019.

In 2019, Smollett reported to police that two men had attacked him in Chicago. He claimed they shouted racist and homophobic slurs and told him, “This is MAGA country.” Although many quickly came to Smollett’s defense (including then-Senator Kamala Harris), Chicago police soon claimed that Smollett orchestrated the attack himself. He was arrested and charged with filing a false police report.

Shortly after a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 counts of disorderly conduct, the prosecutor dropped all charges against the actor. A few months later, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb was appointed special prosecutor to investigate why the charges were dropped. Webb decided to “further prosecute” Smollett, leading to a highly publicized trial in which Smollett was found guilty of falsely reporting a hate crime.

Now the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the second prosecution violated Smollett’s rights. “We believe that a second prosecution under these circumstances would be a violation of due process, and therefore we reverse the defendant’s conviction,” Judge Elizabeth M. Rochford wrote, according to the New York newspaper. Times.

“Make no mistake: today’s ruling has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett’s innocence,” Webb said in a statement, noting that he and his team “respectfully disagree with the Court’s factual and legal reasoning .”

Speaking to TMZ, Smollett’s attorney Nenye Uche said he and his client were “ecstatic” and “delighted” with the decision.