On Thursday, Former Empire actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in an Illinois jail for lying to police about a fake hate crime he staged against himself.
Hate crime hoaxer and disgraced actor will also have to pay Chicago $120,106 to cover the cost of police investigating his false report. He was also fined $25,000 and will be on probation for 30 months.
Smollett lowered his face mask and maintained his innocence after his sentence was announced. “Your Honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this,” said the hate crime hoaxer actor to Judge James Linn.
Smollett then turned and addressed the court directly. “And I am not suicidal,” he said. “And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.” Before being taken into custody, Smollett again proclaimed his innocence, raising his fist in the air.
Wild moment: After getting sentenced to 150 days in jail, Jussie Smollett maintains his innocence and repeats how he is not suicidal.
“I am not suicidal. I am innocent and I am not suicidal … if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself.” pic.twitter.com/AnDsLcINKL
— The Recount (@therecount) March 11, 2022
Judge James Linn then slammed Smollett because of his lying statement:
“You’re just a charlatan, pretending to be a victim of a hate crime. Your very name has become an adverb for ‘lying.’”
“Your performance on the witness stand can only be described as pure perjury,” the judge added. “You are now a permanently convicted felon.”
“There is nothing that I can do here today that will come close to the damage you’ve already done to your own life,” Judge Linn said before delivering the sentencing. “You turned your life upside down by your misconduct and shenanigans.”
Watch it here: CBS Chicago/Youtube
Linn emphasized the damage Smollett had done to victims of real hate crimes, noting the hypocrisy of his actions given the actor’s stated lifelong commitment to social justice.
“I believe that you did damage to real hate crime victims.”
“The officer asked you a simple question. And then you start to lie and haven’t stopped lying since. You’ve been lying and lying and lying about this case, and that’s why you’re here today.”
The Judge added:
“This can only be described as pure perjury,” when Smollett got on the witness stand and “committed hour upon hour upon hour of pure perjury.”
Smollett arrived late to his own sentencing, with his bodyguards knocking one photographer to the ground.
Jussie Smollett’s bodyguards throw a reporter to the ground as Smollett approaches the courthouse for his sentencing. pic.twitter.com/HmmwzZSfSN
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 10, 2022
The judge also underscored the premeditated nature of Smollett’s hoax as a factor in his sentencing decision, pointing out the elaborate planning and rehearsal that went into the scheme. The crime was not an impulsive decision or momentary lapse in judgment, Linn noted.
In January 2019, the actor told police he was beaten by two men wearing Make America Great Again hats who yelled homophobic and racial slurs at him. But days later, those men told police Smollett paid them to pretend to attack him.
Smollett’s jail sentence began immediately following the hearing, something that appeared to surprise his defense team as they repeatedly requested that the judge delay the sentence. He denied those requests.
Source: Breitbart
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