• Jussie Smollett requests a new trial in response to claims that he staged a hate crime on himself.
• He only spent less than a week in jail after the Illinois Appellate Court granted.
• The actor first reported an alleged attack by two guys wearing ski masks outside his flat.

Three months after being found guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack on himself in 2019, the “Empire” actor was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of felony probation.

However, he only spent less than a week in jail after the Illinois Appellate Court granted a motion from his attorneys for a stay of the sentence.

The 40-year-old actor, according to his team, was the victim of “obvious and flagrant” instances of “prosecutorial misconduct,” and they have now formally filed an appeal.

Documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter said: “Mr. Smollett’s constitutional rights to due process and to a fair trial were denied by prosecutorial misconduct including allegations that a defense witness was pressured to change his statement … and shifting the burden during closing arguments.”

The 102-page submission also cited double-jeopardy protection tied to the actor being “punished for the same offenses by his performance of community service and forfeiture of his bond.”

His attorney wrote: “The renewed prosecution of Mr. Smollett violated his due process rights because (1) Mr. Smollett fully performed his part of a non-prosecution agreement with the state by performing community service and forfeiting his $10,000 bail bond; and (2) the state benefited from taking and keeping Mr. Smollett’s bail bond without performing its end of the bargain.

“Thus, the violation of due process was prejudicial and requires reversal of Mr. Smollett’s convictions and a dismissal of the charges against him.”

The actor first reported an alleged attack by two guys wearing ski masks outside his flat, during which he said he was subjected to racist and homophobic slurs, had a “unknown chemical substance” spilled on him, and had a rope placed around his neck.

Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, nevertheless, asserted that he planned the attack and paid them $3,500 for it; Jussie, however, contended that the money was for a meal and exercise schedule while he was travelling.

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