Jussie Smollett enters rehab amid appeal, seeking treatment to 'deal with life in a significant way': source
Actor Jussie Smollett was convicted on five felony counts of disorderly conduct in 2021
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jussie Smollett entered rehab and is seeking treatment, Fox News Digital confirmed.
The "Empire" actor is in an outpatient program for undisclosed reasons.
"He’s been wanting to go to rehabilitation and deal with life in a significant and thoughtful way," a source told Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Smollett's legal team filed an appeal in his 2021 staged hate crime conviction earlier this year and argued his "renewed prosecution" violated the actor's due process rights.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT FILES APPEAL ARGUMENT IN HATE CRIME HOAX CONVICTION
Jussie Smollett entered a rehab center and is seeking treatment months after filing appeal on hate crime hoax trial. (Nuccio DiNuzzo)
A jury found Smollett guilty of five of the six charges of disorderly conduct against him after a nearly two-week trial in 2021.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Smollett's legal team said 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."
Smollett, who is Black and gay, reported to Chicago Police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks in January 2019.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Smollett was convicted on five of six charges of disorderly conduct. (Nuccio DiNuzzo)
The manhunt for the attackers soon turned into an investigation of Smollett and his subsequent arrest on charges he’d orchestrated the attack and lied to police about it.
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An appeal brief stated Smollett's due process rights were violated when the trial court made "uninvited commentary that was dismissive of lines of defense questioning that had sought to establish homophobia, a central theory of the defense case; made commentary defending a detective's investigative decision during cross-examination; accused one of the defense counsels, without basis, of editorializing during cross-examination; and made commentary that sought to hurry along parts of the defense cross-examination; all of which occurred in front of the jury."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Smollett's lawyers argued "inappropriate comments" made during cross-examination impacted the jury's ability to provide an unbiased verdict.
In addition, the appeal stated Smollett's "Fourteenth Amendment Rights to Due Process and Equal Protections under the law were violated when the trial court deprived Mr. Smollett of a jury of his peers by allowing the prosecution to strike all but one African American juror and a gay juror," depriving Jussie a jury of his peers.
This booking photo provided by the Cook County Sheriff's Office shows Jussie Smollett. A judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in jail March 10, 2022. (Cook County Sheriff's Office via AP)
His legal team had planned to appeal the verdict since the December 2021 trial.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail following the conviction. He was also sentenced to 30 months felony probation and ordered to pay restitution to the City of Chicago in the amount of $120,106 and a fine of $25,000.
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He reported to jail March 10, 2022, and was released just six days later pending his appeal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Since being accused of staging the attack, Smollett has maintained his innocence.
Smollett has maintained his innocence (Amy Sussman)
"If I had done this, I’d be a piece of s---. And I don’t think that’s really questionable," Smollett insisted last year on the "Sway in the Morning" show.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If I had done something like this, it would mean that I stuck my fist in the pain of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years. ... It would mean that I stuck my fist in the fears of the LGBTQ community all over the world. I'm not that motherf---er — never have been, don't need to be."