Empire actor Jussie Smollett was flanked by bodyguards as he walked out of Cook County Jail in Illinois late Wednesday night on a $150,000 bond, followed by his attorneys saying there is “no room for politics in our court system.”
Smollett’s attorneys praised the Illinois appeals court that ruled Smollett should be released on bond pending an appeal of his guilty verdict for staging a hate crime, but they argued he was unfairly sentenced twice, having already paid a $10,000 fine and performed community service.
“At each of those steps, I wondered to myself whether Chicago had seceded from the Union because in this country, you cannot punish a person twice,” said attorney Nenye Uche. “People were not focused on the constitutionality of the prosecution, and we’ve been trying to tell everyone that. It is unconstitutional to charge someone twice.”
Uche added that the six days that Smollett spent behind bars did not break him, but he struggled.
“The first thing Jussie did was … he pushed his hands on the glass, and his eyes got teary. And I’ve never seen that because he’s been very strong in there. And he said, ‘I nearly lost hope in our constitutional system.’ He did say that,” said Uche. “He hasn’t eaten. Guys, he hasn’t eaten for six days. Maybe he knew something spiritually that we didn’t know. Right? So, he hasn’t eaten for six days.”
‘AN OUTRAGE’: JUSSIE SMOLLETT’S BROTHER SAYS HE IS IN PSYCH WARD
Jojo Smollett, Jussie’s brother, told ABC7 in Chicago that he was “grateful to God.”
“It’s unbearable for family members to see your loved one going through something like this,” Jojo Smollett said. “Just to let him get out that situation, I’m grateful to God for it.”
Smollett’s family had expressed concern for his well-being while inside the jail, saying he was being held in a psych ward.
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In a 2-1 decision on Wednesday, the appeals court ruled to release Smollett on a $150,000 personal recognizance bond while awaiting an appeal of his conviction. Smollett had been sentenced to 150 days in jail as part of a three-year probation and ordered to pay fines and restitution for police overtime, totaling $145,126.
