Jussie Smollett was freed from jail on bond Wednesday after being there only six days, claiming he survived only on ice water.
“Ice water, that’s been his food and liquid,” Smollett’s defense attorney Nenye Uche said after his release. “I can only imagine if I was in jail for something I didn’t do, I wouldn’t be eating.”
Uche claimed Smollett had “nearly given up” after his conviction and outburst in court that landed him in the jail’s psych ward.
As reported by BizPacReview, Smollett was released on a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, which he reportedly did not have to put down to get out, agreeing to appear in court when required.
Smollett was freed by a panel of three appellate judges who ruled 2 to 1 in favor of his release.
As previously reported by Human Events News, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months probation last week for lying to police about a hate crime and politically motivated robbery he staged against himself.
In December, Smollett was found guilty on five of the six counts of felony disorderly conduct charges. He potentially faced up to three years in prison for each count.
If you aren’t familiar with the story, Smollett was accused of making a false report to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019, an attack prosecutors said he staged. He told officers he was attacked in the middle of one of the coldest nights of the year by two men wearing Trump hats with bleach and a noose. Detectives discovered the alleged attackers were two brothers who received $3,500 from Smollett, which police argued was payment to carry out the attack.
Uche accused Judge Linn, who sentenced Smollett, of having politicized his trial.
“There is no room for politics in our court system, and our appellate courts do not play politics,” he said. “I wondered to myself whether Chicago had seceded from the union. Because in this country, you cannot try someone twice. It is unconstitutional to try someone twice.”
“Mr. Smollett paid a $10,000 fine and did community service. There is no time machine to go back again and redo it. Then you retry the case. You give him 150 days in jail and restitution,” he said.
“Should black men be walked into jail with a class four felony? Shame on you if you think so. People are still trying to lock black men up and it’s a disgrace. The judge spent a great deal of time chastising, berating my client. I had never seen that before. I was not happy with it,” he added.
