Actor Jussie Smollett is to be released from jail on bond as he appeals his conviction for lying to Chicago police about a racist and homophobic attack.
Smollett was given a 150-day prison last week and ordered to pay $140,000 in fines and restitution stemming from his December conviction.
But now the First District Court of Appeals has ruled that Smollett should be released after just six days as his legal team appeals the sentence of Cook County Judge James Linn.
His lawyers argued that Smollett, who could have only served 75 days with good behaviour, would likely have been released before the appeals process played out.
And they also said that they were worried for the actor’s mental health if he was kept in protective custody and concerned he could be attacked by other inmates.
Smollett, 39, was found guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for lying to police after an eight-day trial stemming from the staged 2019 hate crime.
He was acquitted on a sixth charge.
An investigation uncovered that Smollett, who is Black and gay, paid two men he knew from work on the TV show Empire to stage an apparent racist and homophobic attack.
During the trial Smollett maintained his innocence and during the sentencing shouted that he was not suicidal and that if he died in custody someone else was to blame for his death.
Now he will be released from Cook County Jail on a $150,000 personal recognisance bond.
It comes after Smollett was moved out of a psychiatric ward into the prison’s general population.
