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Nearly one year ago, ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett found himself embroiled in a shameful scandal that made headlines around the world. His conviction of orchestrating an elaborate hate crime hoax quickly uprooted his life and career as an actor and now, he is back in court – making headlines for his sick crimes yet again. 

It has been announced that the legal team representing Jussie Smollett has filed their appeal brief, detailing their arguments against the actor’s conviction for hoaxing a hate crime.

Smollett’s legal team argued that his “renewed prosecution” violated his due process rights in documents obtained by Fox News Digital. In addition, the “circuit court judge improperly denied the defense motion for substitution of judge for cause because of his explicit bias towards Mr. Smollett, rendering every subsequent ruling and action in this case null and void.”

As a Black and gay man, Smollett reported that he was attacked by two men wearing ski masks in January 2019 in a racist and homophobic attack. Soon, the manhunt for the attackers turned into an investigation of Smollett, who was arrested on charges he orchestrated the attack and lied to police.

Following a nearly two-week trial in 2021, Smollett was convicted of five of six charges of disorderly conduct.

Smollett maintained his innocence during his sentencing.

Following his conviction, Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail. Additionally, the actor was ordered to serve 30 months of felony probation, make restitution of $120,106 to the city of Chicago, and pay a fine of $25,000.

He was released six days later pending his appeal after reporting to jail on March 10, 2022.

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