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Jussie Smollett has been sentenced forr lying to police about ann alleged hate crime in 2019.
On Thursday afternoon, the former Empire star was told by a judge that he would be given 30 months felony probation for this crime — which will include 150 days behind bars.
Smollett also must make a $120,106 restitution to the city of Chicago for the resources it spent investigating his claims three years ago, and pay a $25,000 fine
According to sources, the actor raised his fist in defiance on the way out of the courtroom and shouted:
“I AM INNOCENT! I AM NOT SUICIDAL!”
Smollett was found guilty in December of falsifying a police report.
Judge James Linn denied a motion on Thursday to reconsider Smollett’s sentence or temporarily stay his jail sentence while his counsel filed an appeal.
In court , Linn spent a significant amount of time addressing the defendant, coming down on him VERY hard by saying his case has received an “unprecedented” amount of attention, the type he’s only seen previously for murder trials.
“Let me tell you Mr. Smollett, I know that there is nothing that I will do here today that can come close to the damage you’ve already done to your own life,” Linn said.
“You’ve turned your life upside down by your misconduct and shenanigans, you’ve destroyed your life as you knew it, and there’s nothing that any sentencing judge could do to you that can compare to the damage you’ve already caused yourself.”
He wasn’t done laying into the actor, either.
At another point, the judge blasted Smollett’s behavior, saying, “You’re just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime, and that’s shameful.”
In 2019, Smollett claimed he was assaulted early in the morning on a sidewalk in Chicago.
He alleged at the time that the assailants placed a noose around his neck and poured bleach all over him.
Smollett’s fell apart, however, as authorities looked into this story and took two men into custody based on surveillance video footage and other evidence.
As it turned out, these two men were brothers who had known Smollett for years and who had just recently accepted payment from him.
They later admitted under oath thatt Smollett had paid them $3,500 to stage the attack.
Smollett tried to argue back then that he was targeted for being Black and gay.
At the sentencing, Linn called Smollett “profoundly arrogant and selfish and narcissistic,” saying he had done “real damage” to actual victims of hate crimes.
“You knew this was a country that was slowly trying to heal past injustices and current injustices and trying to make a better future for each other,” the judge said.
“And it was a hard road and you took some scabs off some healing wounds and you ripped them apart for one reason: You wanted to make yourself more famous, and for a while it worked.”
“You were actually throwing a national pity party for yourself,” Linn added.
Smollett exited the courtroom with a raised fist held high in the air, however, and said the following to Linn:
If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBT community.
Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury.
But I did not do this, 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. I respect you, your honor, and I respect your decision.
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