{"id":1390036,"date":"2022-03-19T18:17:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-19T22:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1390036"},"modified":"2022-03-19T20:31:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T00:31:50","slug":"ap-jussie-smollett-remains-in-legal-limbo-with-the-prospect-of-being-ordered-back-to-jail-a-very-real-possibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ap-jussie-smollett-remains-in-legal-limbo-with-the-prospect-of-being-ordered-back-to-jail-a-very-real-possibility\/","title":{"rendered":"AP: Jussie Smollett Remains in Legal Limbo, with the Prospect of Being Ordered Back to Jail a Very Real Possibility"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fap-jussie-smollett-remains-in-legal-limbo-with-the-prospect-of-being-ordered-back-to-jail-a-very-real-possibility%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1390036&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">CHICAGO (AP) \u2014\u00a0Jussie Smollett <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-crime-chicago-0d5730a4c4abc53523edf2c5460383fe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">walked out<\/a> of a Chicago jail after serving six days and walked into months, if not years, of uncertainty \u2014 from what\u2019s next for his career as an actor and performer to whether he\u2019ll eventually be back behind bars.<\/p>\n<p>The former star of the TV show \u201cEmpire\u201d was <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-sentencing-live-updates-dca736b72447363711dbda548f13d79d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">sentenced last week<\/a> to 150 days in jail plus probation and a fine after a jury found him guilty of lying to police about being the victim of a racist, anti-gay attack in downtown Chicago in 2019. His release late Wednesday came hours after an appellate court ordered he could go free during the appeal process, which wouldn\u2019t be completed before Smollett had served his full sentence.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Smollett, who is Black and gay, has maintained his innocence. He didn\u2019t speak to reporters as he was escorted out of the Cook County Jail surrounded by security, and his attorneys wouldn\u2019t say where the 39-year-old may be heading or what he plans to do next.<\/p>\n<p>Under the conditions of the sentence imposed by Cook County Judge James Linn, Smollett must now serve the 30-month probation, though he may leave the state and travel without restrictions. That means he could travel to places like Los Angeles and New York to try to resurrect his career.<\/p>\n<p>But that will be difficult to do, publicists say, and the latest developments may not have done him any favors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI think he\u2019s actually doing more harm than good\u201d by fighting the conviction and sentence, said publicist Eric Rose. People can be very forgiving of celebrities who admit wrongdoing and apologize, he said, but instead Smollett is keeping his name and face in the headlines, reminding people of the circumstances of his conviction.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wild moment: After getting sentenced to 150 days in jail, Jussie Smollett maintains his innocence and repeats how he is not suicidal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am not suicidal. I am innocent and I am not suicidal \u2026 if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AnDsLcINKL\">pic.twitter.com\/AnDsLcINKL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Recount (@therecount) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/therecount\/status\/1502084342239088652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 11, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what we call \u2018death by 1,000 cuts,\u2019\u201d Rose said. \u201cFrom a reputation perspective, that is horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his trial, Smollett testified that <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-chicago-168608ab44598f96ce768f2a58c76611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">\u201cI\u2019ve lost my livelihood\u201d<\/a> because of the charges against him, including losing his role on \u201cEmpire.\u201d He has since worked behind the scenes, writing, directing and producing a film, \u201cB-Boy Blues,\u201d that recently won the \u201cfan favorite narrative feature\u201d award in the American Black Film Festival.<\/p>\n<p>While work in front of the camera may be difficult to find, Smollett could get opportunities working behind the scenes, particularly because he has a sister and other family members with successful careers in the industry, said another publicist, Danny Deraney.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAnything is possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett, who was convicted on five <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jussie-smollett-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-crime-chicago-31a6a04d8b35a310a28d186706d5d0c9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">low-level felony counts<\/a> of disorderly conduct and acquitted on a sixth count, also remains in legal limbo, with the prospect of being ordered back to jail to serve the rest of his sentence a very real possibility.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_20276939\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/03\/AP22076051885902.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Actor Jussie Smollett, center, leaves the Cook County Jail Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo\/Charles Rex Arbogast)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Smollett told Chicago police in January 2019 that he had been attacked by two men as he walked near his home around 2 a.m. He said the attackers also yelled that he was in \u201cMAGA country,\u201d an apparent reference to President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d campaign slogan that some Trump critics call racist and discriminatory.<\/p>\n<p>The claims quickly garnered national attention, with Trump weighing in, and Chicago police said they worked around the clock investigating before determining that the attack was a hoax, staged by Smollett to get publicity. At trial, prosecutors presented a check they said Smollett had written to two brothers who worked on the \u201cEmpire\u201d set with him as payment to fake the assault.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett was charged with disorderly conduct, but Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Kim Foxx later dropped the case. A special prosecutor was then appointed, and Smollett was charged again.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Outside the jail on Wednesday night, Smollett\u2019s defense attorneys said having to face charges a second time went against his constitutional rights. They also said Smollett was the target of a racist justice system and people playing politics.<\/p>\n<p>The appeal process will almost certainly take months, if not years, with multiple deadlines, extensions of deadlines, new deadlines and more extensions.<\/p>\n<p>For example, now that Smollett\u2019s attorneys have filed their notice that they intend to appeal, they must send to the court the documents, transcripts and other paperwork the case has generated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have 49 days\u2026\u201d said Stephen Komie, a Chicago attorney with extensive experience filing appeals, adding that postponing that deadline for two or three 49-day chunks of time is routine.<\/p>\n<p>Komie explained that once that\u2019s done, Smollett\u2019s attorneys have 35 days to file their brief, but they can get that deadline extended up to four times. Then when it is the prosecutors\u2019 turn to respond, the court will give them as many as four 35-day extensions too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the case goes quickly, they could have oral arguments this time next year,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if the case goes at the normal pace you will be calling me in the summer of 2023 to tell me about the oral arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They might then have to wait a couple months or more for a decision, and, depending on how that goes, there could be appeals to the state Supreme Court and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>Smollett also still owes $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine, though the Chicago Tribune reports that the money isn\u2019t due for 30 months. And in the meantime, he is still being sued by the city of Chicago for the $130,000 the city says it paid out in police overtime to investigate Smollett\u2019s report that he was attacked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO (AP) \u2014\u00a0Jussie Smollett walked out of a Chicago jail after serving six days and walked into months, if not years, of uncertainty \u2014 from what\u2019s next for his career<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1390036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1390036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1390036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1390036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1390036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1390036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1390036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}