Jussie Smollett asks Illinois high court to hear appeal of convictions for lying about hate crime

CHICAGO (AP) — Actor Jussie Smollett has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene in his yearslong legal battle stemming from charges that he staged a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and lied about it to Chicago police. His petition was filed Monday and asks the state’s highest court to hear the case two months after an appeals court upheld his convictions for disorderly conduct. In 2021, a jury convicted Smollett on five felony counts of disorderly conduct, a charge that can be filed in Illinois when a person is accused of lying to police. The state Supreme Court could take the case or let the lower court’s decision stand.