Jussie Smollett's Hoax Case Prosecutor Rips Illinois Supreme Court's Ruling: 'He Is Not Innocent'

The special prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett hoax case has condemned the Illinois Supreme Court's decision to overturn the actor's conviction.

He alleged that the justices disregarded the overwhelming evidence they were given. Smollett was found to have staged a hate crime hoax in 2019 after claiming he was attacked by two white men who were then discovered to be two Nigerian brothers working in collusion with the "Empire" actor.

Now, the judges in Illinois have ruled that Jussie Smollett's retrial was a violation of "due process" and reversed his conviction.

The special prosecutor who investigated Smollett's highly publicized 2019 hate crime hoax case has issued a scathing rebuke of the Illinois Supreme Court after it ruled to overturn the actor's conviction on a technicality.

Dan Webb said in a statement shared with the Daily Mail that the ruling "has nothing to do with Mr. Smollett's innocence," and the "legal reasoning upends long-standing Illinois precedent."

"My office spent nearly two years developing evidence and working closely with the Chicago Police Department to prepare that case for trial," Webb continued in his remark. "It is very important I point out that today's decision is also not the result of any error or conduct by the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the trial court, or the Chicago Police Department."

He noted that Smollett "did not even challenge the sufficiency of the evidence against him in his appeal."

In the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling on Smollett's conviction, the court declared that the actor's rights were violated by Webb and his team's decision to re-try him even after the initial charges were dropped with an agreement that he wouldn't be re-charged.

Webb, in his statement, told the Daily Mail that "all of this conduct happened five months prior" to his appointment, and even though his actions led to the decision, the court "did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial."

The special prosecutor explained that the Supreme Court made a mistake in its ruling over the agreement that Smollett made with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office (CCSAO) in 2019 that he would not be re-tried.

"The Illinois Supreme Court reached this decision notwithstanding the fact that the CCSAO dismissed the initial Smollett case via a nolle prosequi, which does not bar re-prosecution under Illinois law, and Mr. Smollett's own lawyers told the public immediately following the dismissal of his initial case in March 2019 that there was 'no deal' with the CCSAO," he said.

"Today's ruling does not change how deeply proud I am of the work my Special Prosecutor's office accomplished," Webb concluded. "Nor does it undermine the jury's verdict, and most importantly, it does not clear Jussie Smollett's name—he is not innocent."

Smollett claimed he was attacked by two men wearing MAGA hats, alleging that they yelled racial slurs at him and placed a noose around his neck.

He was later found to have faked the incident by working with two Nigerian brothers whom he paid to stage the hoax scenes.

In March 2019, charges against him were dropped, as his lawyers said he was "vilified" and "made to appear as a perpetrator." However, one year down the line, special prosecutor Dan Webb was tapped to revisit the case to investigate how it was handled.

Smollett was then found guilty of five of the six counts of disorderly conduct in December 2021, leading to him being handed a 150-day jail sentence and 30 months probation.

He was also slapped with a hefty fine of $130k for wasting police resources. Smollett was later released after serving just six days of his sentence as his lawyers filed an appeal against the ruling.

The "Lost Holliday" actor was enjoying a budding Hollywood career with his appearance as Jamal Lyon on "Empire."

With his legal troubles at the time, he was temporarily dropped from the hit TV show as show producers called his behavior "disturbing."

"We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show, and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of Jamal from the final two episodes of the season," they shared at the time.

He was eventually dropped permanently from the hit drama series.

In an interview on iHeart Radio's "The Breakfast Club," Lee Daniels expressed his willingness to collaborate with Smollett despite the alleged hate crime hoax.

Describing Smollett as "a son" following their work together on the hit Fox series "Empire," which aired from 2015 to 2020, Daniels stated, "I'd cast him in something. He was a son to me. He also represented me, and he also represented the movement that I tried to start, which I didn't know I was starting."

The director also admitted that the "whole situation was complicated" to him, adding, "I still don't know what to believe. Honestly, I don't know what to believe. People say he didn't do it, he did do it. God bless him on his journey."