Mr. Smollett, who was found guilty of felony disorderly conduct in connection with the false report, is facing a possible sentence of up to three years in prison.
Not sure why Daily Mail and some other news outlets are claiming he faces up to 20 years, the judge put the sentencing range on the record in open court.
Anyway I think it would be a waste of more resources to jail him, but he should get the largest fine allowed by law and maybe a restitution order as well.
The whole sordid incident is just so shameful, there is so much real hate crime happening and he’s given millions of Americans an excuse to deny deny deny that truth. Shame on him.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
You're right BSG - I first saw this in the Daily Mail which still has the 20 years possible thing up. But if I understand correctly, the judge always has the option of making the sentences additive rather than concurrent if there are several counts. However I think it much more likely that he will get a few months max.
The Daily Mail is also shrilly noting that several 'liberal' politicians (Biden, Harris, AOC etc) may be regretting their early tweets that appeared to buy Smollett's version of the story. This of course is a little undone by the tweets from that well known pinko D Trump Jr who also seemed to think Smollett's claims were true.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
