Chicago, Mar 11 (AP) Black and gay actor Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to 150 days in jail for staging a hate crime against himself to grab the limelight while the nation struggled with wrenching issues of racial injustice.

Branding him a narcissistic charlatan, Cook County Judge James Linn on Thursday sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, with 150 days served in the county jail, and ordered him to pay USD 120,106 in restitution to the city of Chicago and a USD25,000 fine.

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Smollett responded by defiantly maintaining his innocence and suggesting he could be killed in jail. He claimed that he had been the target of a racist and homophobic attack.

The actor did not make a statement when offered the opportunity before the judge announced the sentence, saying that he was listening to his attorneys' advice.

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After the decision in the case continued for more than three years, Smollett, however, removed the face mask that he wore throughout the hearing to proclaim himself innocent.

“If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years and the fears of the LGBT community," Smollett said, standing up at the defence table as his lawyers and sheriff's deputies surrounded him.

“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 didn't do it to myself. And you must all know that,” Smollet shouted out as deputies led him from the courtroom.

“I am innocent," he yelled, raising his fist. “I could have said I was guilty a long time ago.”

Special prosecutor Dan Webb asked Linn to include “an appropriate amount of prison time” when sentencing the actor for his conviction on five counts of disorderly conduct.

“His conduct denigrated hate crimes," Webb said after the hearing. “His conduct will discourage others who are victims of hate crimes from coming forward and reporting those crimes to law enforcement.”

Smollett faced up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct -- the charge filed for lying to police -- of which he was convicted. He was acquitted on a sixth count.

However, experts did not expect Smollett to be sent to prison because he does not have an extensive criminal history and the conviction was for a low-level nonviolent crime.

Smollett's attorneys wanted the judge to limit the sentence to community service, arguing that he had already been punished by the criminal justice system and damage to his career.

“I ask you, judge, not to send him to prison,” his grandmother, 92-year-old Molly Smollett, echoed his attorney's argument.

“If you do, send me along with him, OK?” she told the court.

Smollett's attorneys also read aloud letters from other supporters, including the president of the NAACP, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and actors LaTanya and Samuel L. Jackson asked Linn to consider the case's effect on Smollett's life and career.

Several supporters spoke about worries that Smollett would be at risk in prison, specifically mentioning his race, sexual orientation and his family's Jewish heritage.

Linn said he did consider those requests for mercy, along with Smollett's prior work for and financial support of social justice organisations, but the judge also excoriated the actor as a narcissist and pronounced himself astounded by his actions given the actor's multi-racial family background and ties to social justice work.

“The damage you've done to yourself is way beyond anything else than can happen to you from me,” Linn said. “You are now a permanently convicted felon.”

Smollett's attorney Nenye Uche said he will ask the jail to keep Smollett in protective custody and plans to appeal both the verdict and the judge's sentence.

Uche said he didn't expect Linn to include jail time but Smollett did. He quoted the actor as saying, "Because I'm a Black guy, no matter how successful I've gotten, I'm Black."

A spokesman for the Cook County Sheriff's Office said Smollett would have a comprehensive medical, mental health and security assessment, a routine process.

Linn, before the sentencing portion of the hearing, rejected a motion from the defence to overturn the jury's verdict on legal grounds. Judges rarely grant such motions.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, praising the sentence, said it sent a message that “false claims and allegations" would not be tolerated.

“The city feels vindicated in today's ruling that he is being held accountable and that we will appropriately receive restitution for his actions,” she said in a statement.

Thursday's sentencing, which is subject to appeal, is the latest chapter in a criminal case that made international headlines when Smollett reported to police that two men wearing ski masks beat him, and hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him on a dark Chicago street and ran off.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx had come under fire for her office's decision to drop its initial charges against Smollett. On Thursday, Foxx blasted a “relentless, organised and effective” push to pursue Smollett while other serious crimes went unsolved or unresolved.

“Just because we do not like the outcome should not mean we bully prosecutors and circumvent the judicial process to get it changed,” Foxx wrote in a column published by the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Smollett was indicted, tried and convicted by a kangaroo prosecution in a matter of months.” Judicially appointed special prosecutors led the second case and the actor was convicted in December.

Witnesses at his trial included two brothers who told jurors that Smollett paid them to carry out the attack, gave them money for the ski masks and rope, and instructed them to fashion the rope into a noose.

Prosecutors said he told them as to what racist and homophobic slurs to shout, and to yell that Smollett was in “MAGA Country”, a reference to the campaign slogan of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Smollett, who knew the men from his work on the television show “Empire” that filmed in Chicago, testified that he did not recognise the two and did not know they were the men attacking him.

Unlike the trial, Linn agreed to let photographers and a television camera inside court for the hearing — meaning the public got to see and hear Smollett speak in court for the first time. (AP) PY

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)