Jussie Smollett's Conviction and Sentences Upheld by Appeals Court for Fake Hate Crime

The "Empire" actor tried to get his indictments dismissed citing numerous concerns, including "invalid appointment" of the special prosecutor assigned to his case

An Illinois court is upholding actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction on disorderly conduct for the staging of a hate-crime against himself in 2019, according to court documents reviewed by PEOPLE.

This comes almost two years after he was found guilty for staging a hate crime against himself and making a false police report. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail in March 2022 and subsequently released pending his appeal.

Smollett, an openly gay Black actor, was charged with six counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports to investigators in January 2019 after telling police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack. Each count represents one instance of reporting a false claim, PEOPLE reported at the time.

He was found guilty on five of the six counts.

He had allegedly told police that he was walking to his Chicago home in the early morning hours of Jan. 29 when two masked men, one of them sporting a red hat, spouted racial slurs and attacked him. He claimed they also doused him with bleach and put a noose around his neck, CBS2 reported at the time.

Prosecutors alleged that Smollett staged the attack to get media attention and paid $3,500 to two brothers, Abimbola "Bola" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, to help him pull it off.

Smollett’s case has been embroiled in numerous back-and-forths with authorities since the 2019 incident which appeared to be racist and homophobic upon first glance.

After the Osundairo brothers came forward with claims that they were paid by Smollett to orchestrate the attack, the Empire star continued to maintain his story.

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Initial charges against him were dropped before a special prosecutor was assigned to investigate his case, according to the opinion handed down on Friday.

He was indicted in 2020 by a special grand jury and has since tried to have the indictments dismissed citing several factors such as “the alleged violation of double jeopardy principles, challenging the validity of the special prosecutor’s appointment, and asserting a violation of an ‘agreement’ with the CCSAO to dismiss his original case,” according to court’s documents reviewed by PEOPLE.

Smollett sought to dismiss the charges claiming an “invalid appointment of the special prosecutor," and Friday's opinion stated that not only did the actor file an appeal on a case that was under a different proceeding, but he also did so after the deadline had passed.

It was not immediately clear if Smollett will take this to the supreme court. His attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further comments. 

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Read the original article on People.