Jussie Smollett Hate Hoax Conviction Appeal to Be Heard by Illinois Supreme Court

Former Empire star Jussie Smollett is taking the appeal of his criminal conviction all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The state’s high court has agreed to hear Smollett’s appeal of his conviction for staging a hate crime in 2019 to garner media attention, according to the Chicago Tribune.

A lower appellate court had already upheld his convictions for his report of a hate crime.

Smollett asked the high court to review the case and argued the lower court’s decision “threatens to upend all informal and formal deferred prosecution agreements.”

But the state supreme court disagreed. In a two-to-one decision, the appeals court rejected Smollett’s arguments his conviction was illegitimate.

The only dissenter was Justice Freddrenna Lyle, who claimed that “Smollett gave up something of value, community service and bond forfeiture, in exchange for a nolle of the whole indi