The family of convicted hate-hoaxer Jussie Smollett wants him released from jail because they say serving his short sentence might risk his mental and physical well-being.
The family also claims a Smollett hater called his brother dozens of times and threatened the homosexual actor.
Smollett’s in jail for 150 day for staging the hoax. Judge Michael Linn sentenced Smollett last week.
Not Suicidal
“Jussie Smollett’s attorneys want a state appellate court to release the actor from jail while his appeal is pending, according to recent court filings arguing that Smollett’s time in custody could put his mental and physical health at risk,” the Chicago Tribune reported:
At his attorneys’ request, a judge ordered Smollett placed in protective custody, with cameras in his cell and an officer with a body-worn camera outside his door at all times. Smollett will have no contact with other detainees, but can have time outside his cell to make phone calls and watch TV, the office has said.
Thus far, the light-loafered actor is doing his time at Cermak Health Services, the newspaper reported, a medical facility at the Cook County Jail. “In a video posted to Smollett’s Instagram, his brother Jocqui stated that Smollett is in a ‘psych ward’ with a note in his cell saying he is at risk of self-harm,” the Tribune reported.
Last week, Smollett shouted that he was not suicidal as he departed the courtroom after sentencing.
“He is very stable, he is very strong, he is very healthy and ready to take on the challenge that ultimately has been put up against him,” Jocqui Smollett said.
Yesterday, Smollett’s “team,” as the Tribune called it, released audio of one of the phone calls.
I hope what they do to that guy in jail — here’s what they’re going to do, right. They’re going to take a broom handle, and take that little [expletive], shove it in there, and he’s gonna go, “[shrieking sound].”
The voice was a man’s.
“The threat appears to recall the horrific 1997 police assault on Abner Louima in Brooklyn, in which Louima was sodomized with a broken broomstick in the bathroom of the 70th precinct by Justin Volpe, the disgraced NYPD Officer now serving 30 years for the attack,” RS reported:
The Smollett spokeswoman says the caller bombarded his sibling’s number with a dozen other similar calls Friday morning.
The Tribune reported that Smollett “is eligible for good behavior credit that would cut that time in half, putting his anticipated release date in late May.”
I’m Innocent
Smollett’s lawyers want him released while they appeal his conviction, a request Linn denied at sentencing as he noted that Smollett “lied for hours upon hours”
To the last, Smollett lied about paying two Nigerians to buy supplies to stage the hoax. Smollett claimed that two white men attacked him at 2:00 a.m. in downtown Chicago and told him he was in “MAGA Country.” They also called him names, he claimed, poured a chemical on him, and put a noose around his neck.
Chicago cops quickly learned the truth, but spent $130,000 on overtime investigating it. Smollett must pay that back to the city.
Said Linn to lawyer who requested a stay at the sentencing hearing:
I’m not staying it. No, no, no. The wheels of justice turn slowly. Sometimes, the hammer just has to fall, and it’s falling right here, right now.”
“If I did this, then it means I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years, and the fears of the LGBT community,” the homosexual thespian said:
Your honor, I respect you, and I respect the jury, but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal, and if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself.
As the bailiffs took him away to serve his richly-deserved sentence, he raised a black power fist and shouted.
“I am not suicidal. I am not suicidal. And I am innocent.”
