Jussie Smollett’s decision to continue appealing his hate crime hoax conviction has been criticized as unwise by a legal expert familiar with the case.
Eric Anderson, an attorney at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, said, “If you have the resources to fight a conviction, then you should use those resources.”
“One of the problems with our justice system is that the ability to challenge hinges on either the wealth or access to wealth of a defendant or the goodwill of those willing to do the work at reduced or no costs to the defendant,” he explained.
“He can do the time later as well as he can right now. After, if his case is not overturned, his schedule will then be wide open,” he continued.
The expert suggested that serving the sentence and moving forward would have been a smarter move for Smollett, allowing him to focus on rebuilding his image and engaging in new endeavors.
Eric Schiffer, a branding expert, said, “The smartest move would have been to do the time and get it behind him.”
“These moments where you are revisiting the facts of a case, in which he severely damaged his trust with the public, further reinforces him as a personality the public can’t trust,” he continued.
“Instead, had he done the time, he could have begun to rebuild himself and his story and focus on new things,” Schiffer explained.
Schiffer added, “When you’re reminding the public constantly of what a giant con and fraud you were attempting to pull, that’s not the best strategy to rebuild in Hollywood.”
“He needs memories to fade and headlines and stories associated to him are about him rebuilding his life, focusing on things that would help the community and projects that he may be in that are new and not further headlines that are tied to his terrible choices,” concluded the branding expert.
Smollett’s attorneys reportedly wrote in the filing, “What should have been a straightforward case has been complicated by the intersection of politics and public outrage.”
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