Well, that didn’t last long. After being sentenced to 150 days in county jail (which was probably going to be shortened anyway) upon conviction for staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself, actor Jussie Smollett, known for his portrayal of Jamal Lyons on theFOXhit dramaEmpirefrom 2015 to 2019, served less than a week before being made a free man.
An appeals court ordered Smollett to be released from jail after agreeing to his lawyers' request that he should not be held there while they work on his appeal. In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court said Smollett could be released as long as he posted a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, which he wouldn’t have to pay right away, but he would have to agree to come to court when he’s required to. Once the decision came down, Smollett was released later that night.
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Smollett’s lawyers originally arguedthat he would have completed his entire jail sentence by the time he had completed the appeal process and that in that time, Smollett was in danger of physical harm because of his status as a celebrity. Although the judge who sentenced him called that claim factually incorrect, clearly the appeals court saw it differently with Smollett. This does not mean Smollett is out of the woods as far as jail time goes. It just means that for now, Smollett won’t have to serve in county jail while he makes his appeal.
If his appeal fails, then he’ll go right back tothe county jail, which, again, would probably not have to last for the full 150 days he was originally sentenced to last week. This honestly isn’t that big of a shock because, in spite of the overwhelming evidence against him, Smollett has fought tooth and nail to beat the allegations against him. People who believe Smollett deserves everything that’s coming to him can complain all they want about the court’s decision.
Since no one technically got hurt in the crime that he committed (which includes Smollett himself), that helps his case to be released while filing an appeal. It helps a convict’s case to be released while they appeal their conviction if the crime did not involve any violence whatsoever. As an American citizen, Smollett is well within his rights to appeal his conviction, andby making an appeal, that includes being temporarily released from jail.
While from a physical standpoint, it’s true that no one was harmed, Smollett’s fiasco - which he broughtentirelyon himself - has badly damaged the credibility of actual victims of hate crimes. Coincidentally,actor Karen Fukuhara, who’s best known for her role on the Amazon Prime hitThe Boys, alleged yesterday that she was recently attacked. The difference between hers and Smollett’s allegations was that she was hit in the back of her head, her story doesn’t sound like something out of a movie script, and while she never alleged the attack being because of her Asian heritage, she shared this story because she primarily wanted to raise awareness to stop anti-Asian violence. And yet, thanks to Smollett, there will be plenty of skeptics surrounding her story. That’s the lasting impact Smollett’s infamy will have on society’s response to hate crimes. So, hope it was worth it.
