Several days after he was sentenced to 150 days in jails after he was found guilty of filing a false police report after claiming he was the victim of a hate crime, Jussie Smollett has been placed in the psych ward of the Cook County Jail.
Smollett’s brother revealed the news in an Instagram video that was shared to Jussie’s Instagram account. Jocqui Smollett said, So Jussie is currently in a psych ward at the Cook County Jail. What’s very concerning is that there was a note attached to his paperwork today saying that he’s at risk of self-harm.”
Following His Courtroom Outburst, Jussie Smollett’s Brother Says He Predicted His Future
As Mamas Uncut previously reported, after he was sentenced to jail time, Smollett spoke to the judge directly before also addressing the public. While maintaining his innocence, Smollett said:
“Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this,” the actor told the judge, before turning to the court. “And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”
In his Instagram video, Jocqui iterated his brother’s courtroom words. “I want to make it clear that he is in no way, shape, or form at risk of self-harm. He wants to let folks know that he is very stable, he is very strong, he is very healthy and ready to take on the challenge that… has been put up against him.”
Three years after the actor claimed he was attacked by two Trump supporters who tied a noose around his neck before throwing bleach on him in January 2019, Smollett has been sentenced for staging the alleged hate crime.
As Mamas Uncut reported, in December 2021, Smollett was found guilty by a jury of falsely filing a police report, saying Smollett staged the racist and anti-gay attack on himself and lied to Chicago police about it. The two men hired to attack Smollett testified against him in court.
During the trial, prosecutors said, Smollett “exploited tense race relations for his own gain and paid the Osundairos [brothers] $3,500 to stage the attack so he could get attention.”
Prosecutor Dan Webb continued, telling the jury, “To outright denigrate something as serious, as heinous, as a real hate crime, to denigrate it and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such horrible historical significance in our country was just plain wrong to do it and he did.”
Now Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to 150 days in jail, 30 months of felony probation, and he is ordered to pay restitution of more than $120,000 and a $25,000 fine for his crimes.
According to CNN, before handing down the sentence, Judge James Linn spoke directly to Smollett, saying, “There’s a side of you that has this arrogance, and selfishness and narcissism that’s just disgraceful,” the judge said. “You’re not a victim of a racial hate crime, you’re not a victim of a homophobic hate crime. You’re just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime, and that’s shameful.”
The two men Smollett paid to attack him worked with him on the hit Fox drama “Empire.” The judge continued to say that Smollett’s actions have shown his “dark side.”
Smollett’s attorney asked for the guilty verdict to be overturned and that he receive a new trial due to legal errors leading up to and during the trial. However, prosecutors called the argument meritless.
The judge agreed, denying the request for a new trial, recognizing that Smollett received a fair trial.