Jussie Mollett, a felon convicted of the crime of stealing money from his victims, has been released by jail without bail. This decision is pending an appeal. That decision was made by an Illinois appeals court that apparently bought Smollett’s argument that his life was in danger while incarcerated.
In this case, the “bail” isn’t an actual payment being made like normal bail would be. Rather, it’s just a threat to charge him $150,000 if he misses his court dates.
#BREAKINGJussie Stmollett was released already from prison, while awaiting the results of his appeal.
Unbelievable.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 16, 2022
This comes after Smollett’s post-sentencing performance, where he yelled about not being suicidal and continued to proclaim his supposed innocence. Throughout this entire saga, the former “Empire” actor has never shown any remorse despite the overwhelming evidence against him. Maybe this strategy worked?
The New York Post has the following details.
The ruling came two days after Smollett’s lawyers filed an emergency motion to postpone his five-month sentence on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for lying to police.
A judge found that because Smollett had been convicted of “non-violent” offenses, the court would allow him to be released from a Chicago jail on a $150,000 individual bond during the appeal, according to the court order.
Smollett, under the I-Bond would not need to dip into his wallet to get out jail. Instead, he would only have money to pay if he missed his court dates.
The special prosecutor in the case opposed the move, arguing that Smollett’s lawyers had not provided sufficient evidence that any danger existed. Smollett was already separated from the rest of the inmate group.
As to what this means, I’m not sure it points to much of anything except the court using an already existent legal standard. A bail can be granted to nonviolent offenders, provided they have not been sentenced for a specific amount. Smollett was given a sentence of 150 days. Still, in the end, it’s extremely unlikely he will win an appeal, given historical success rates, which means the inevitable is probably just being delayed here.
Our legal system is showing the highest level of bias. It’s not race-based, but class-based. You have a better chance of getting favorable treatment if you can pressure the court with top lawyers and lots negative press. If Smollett were just a regular person arguing that jail life was too hard, would he have been freed? I am extremely skeptical.
I guess we’ll have to see where this goes, but an appeal could take a long time to get through, so for the foreseeable future, Smollett looks to be a free man with no real stipulations.
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