An appeals court upheld the disorderly conduct convictions on Friday of the actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and then lying about it to Chicago police.
Smollett had reported to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks. The manhunt for the attackers soon turned into an investigation of Smollett himself, leading to his arrest on charges he had orchestrated the attack.
Appellate Judge Freddrenna Lyle said she would have thrown out Smollett's convictions. Lyle said it was fundamentally unfair to appoint a special prosecutor and charge Smollett when he had already performed community service as part of a 2019 deal with Cook county prosecutors to drop the initial charges.
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