PREVIEW

Jussie Smollett's hoax attack conviction has been overturned in a shock ruling. The 42-year-old Empire actor alleged that he was attacked by two men in January 2019 - but his claim fell apart when the alleged attackers in turn claimed that the actor had hired them to stage the attack. Smollett was initially charged with a number of felonies connected with filing a false police report and, in March 2022, was ultimately sentenced to serve 150 days in county jail and two and a half years on probation. But on Thursday, the star's hoax conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court - leaving the actor himself stunned even though he insisted all along that he was innocent. Speaking to TMZ, Smollett's attorney, Nenye Uche, said, "He was very pleasantly surprised. Jussie has been through a lot and at each turn we received bad news.” "When I was at the lower court in the trial court with the jury's verdict, whether it was the fact that the trial court even allowed this case to go forward, whether it was the appellate decision.” "I think from a human perspective, I'm not a psychologist, but I am going to wager, I think there was a feeling of, you know, here we go again. And he was pleasantly surprised, to put it mildly. He's very ecstatic. The biggest feeling I got from him was a feeling of relief that it was over.” Uche also said, "I don't see it as a surprise. Obviously, we are ecstatic, we're happy. But really, my position is that it never should have gone this far.”
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