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A jury in December found Smollett, 39, guilty
of five of the six felony disorderly conduct counts he faced,
one for each time he was accused of lying to police.
On Thursday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Linn also
ordered Smollett to pay over $120,000 in restitution and fined
him $25,000.
"I know that there is nothing that I will do here today that can
come close to the damage you've already done to your own life,"
said Linn. "You've destroyed your life as you knew it."
Smollett's acting career declined after the incident. He lost
his role as a singer-songwriter in the final season of "Empire,"
a Fox television hip-hop drama that ended a five-year run in
2020.
He has the right to appeal and said in court on Thursday that he
was innocent.
Prosecutors said Smollett, who is Black and gay, lied to police
when he told them he was accosted on a dark Chicago street by
two masked strangers in January 2019.
Smollett claimed the attackers threw a noose around his neck and
poured chemicals on him while yelling racist and homophobic
slurs and expressions of support for former U.S. President
Donald Trump.
Police arrested the actor a month later, saying he paid two
brothers $3,500 to stage the attack in an effort to raise his
show-business profile. He eventually pleaded not guilty to six
counts of felony disorderly conduct.
His case took an unexpected turn in spring 2019 when the Cook
County state's attorney's office dropped a 16-count indictment
against him in exchange for Smollett forfeiting his $10,000 bond
without admitting wrongdoing.
The dismissal drew criticism from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and
Chicago's police superintendent, who called the reversal a
miscarriage of justice.
In 2019, a special prosecutor assigned to the case recommended
charging Smollett again and a grand jury returned an indictment.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting
by Costas Pitas; Editing by Mark Porter and Tom Hogue)
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