Jussie Smollett has filed to appeal his felony disorderly conduct conviction.
According to court documents, the “Empire” star filed an appeal on Thursday to reverse his previous conviction of felony disorderly conduct.
Smollett was convicted one year ago for five counts of felony disorderly conduct after allegedly staging a hate crime against himself in 2019. He was acquitted on one count.
“The renewed prosecution of Mr. Smollett violated his due process rights,” the actor’s attorney Heather Widell wrote in the documents. “Mr. Smollett fully performed his part of a non-prosecution agreement with the state by performing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bail bond.”
She continued, “The state benefited from taking and keeping Mr. Smollett’s bail bond without performing its end of the bargain. Thus, the violation of due process was prejudicial and requires reversal of Mr. Smollett’s convictions and a dismissal of the charges against him.”
The documents also claimed double jeopardy protection, noting Smollett was “punished for the same offenses by his performance of community service and forfeiture of his bond.”
Last year, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days behind bars and 30 months of probation but was released after six days pending an appeal.
