Actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to five months at the Cook County Jail and 30 months of probation in connection to his conviction of lying to police about a staged hate crime in Jan. 2019.
Smollett, who was convicted on five of the six counts of felony disorderly conduct that he faced, will also be required to pay a fine of $25,000, as well as restitution to the city of Chicago for costs incurred while investigating the staged attack.
Judge James Linn had the option to sentence Smollett to up to three years in prison on each of the five counts he faced, but instead opted to sentence him to 150 days, to be served in the Cook County Jail.
Linn had the option of sentencing him to the jail for up to one year, according to prosecutors.
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Smollett was also sentenced to 30 months of probation in the case. He will still be allowed to travel during that time, and will not be required to live in the state of Illinois during his probation, according to Linn’s ruling.
Finally, Smollett was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine, and to pay restitution of more than $120,000 to the city of Chicago for costs they incurred while investigating the case.
The city had sued Smollett for more than $130,000 to cover costs in the case, but the judge ruled that the $10,000 bond forfeiture from Smollett’s previous case would be applied to that amount.
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Smollett can now appeal the ruling, something that he is expected to do.
Smollett faced up to three years in prison for each of the felony counts of disorderly conduct that he was convicted of following his trial. He faced those counts in connection to lying to different law enforcement officials about the staged attack.
Most experts believed that due to his lack of an extensive criminal history, and because the crime was a low-level felony related to a nonviolent act, that he would not be sentenced to much prison time.
Smollett’s attorneys filed motions to delay the start of the sentence pending appeal, but were denied by Linn.
