Jussie Smollett petitions Illinois Supreme Court to review appeals court ruling

CHICAGO - Jussie Smollett filed a request for the Illinois Supreme Court to review a recent appeals court ruling concerning his disorderly conduct conviction on Monday. 

Smollett was convicted in 2021 for staging a racist, homophobic attack on himself in 2019 and filing a false police report.

An Illinois appeals court upheld Smollett's disorderly conduct conviction on Dec. 1, 2023. The panel voted 2-1 to affirm the conviction.

A petition for rehearing was filed by Smollett's lawyers on Dec. 21, 2023. It was denied by the First District in a 2-1 decision on Jan. 2, 2024.

Now, Smollett is taking his case to the Illinois Supreme Court for review. 

"What should have been a straightforward case has been complicated by the intersection of politics and public outrage," Smollett's attorney wrote in a court filing Monday.

Smollett maintains that he had no part in the planning or execution of an alleged attack on him on a cold night outside his Streeterville apartment. Investigators said he staged it with two men he knew from the "Empire" television show he was filming in Chicago.

Prosecutors said Smollett told the men what slurs to shout, and to yell that he was in "MAGA Country," a reference to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan.

Smollett was convicted on five counts of disorderly conduct, a charge that can be filed in Illinois when a person lies to police. He now will have to finish a 150-day stint in jail that was part of his sentence. Smollett spent just six days in jail while his appeal was pending.

His lawyers wrote in the appeal that his jail sentence was "excessive."