Jussie Smollett 's sentencing judge has granted his request to be held in protective custody.- The '
Empire ' actor shouted at his sentencing Thursday about danger 'when I go in there' tojail .
Jussie Smollett asked to be placed in protective custody as he begins his 150-day sentence for lying to
That wish was quickly granted by Cook County Judge James Linn, the same judge who had called him a narcissistic "charlatan" when ordering him off to jail on Thursday.
Smollett had shouted dramatically about being innocent — and in some kind of danger — as he was led off to jail.
Defense attorney Heather Widell told Insider on Friday that Smollett had Jeffrey Epstein on his mind. Conspiracy theories continue to swirl around the pedophile financier's 2019 suicide in a federal lockup in Manhattan.
"He didn't have any basis for that," Widell said of Smollett's shouted concern at his sentencing on Thursday that something might happen to him "when I go in there."
"It was just after Epstein, he just wanted to make sure that everything was kosher," she said, adding that Smollett's defense team is preparing to file a notice of appeal and is hoping he can be freed pending the appeal process.
Smollett spent his first night in jail in a processing section of Cook County Jail and was only moved to his cell on Friday morning, Widell also said.
The actor's jail sentence has meanwhile been greeted with cheers and jeers by Chicago officials.
The city's top prosecutor, Kim Foxx — whose office had originally dropped its case against Smollett in 2020 — complained that he is a victim of "mob justice."
Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised the sentence, saying in a statement that it "should send a clear message to everyone in the City of Chicago that false claims and allegations will not be tolerated."
—Ryan Johnson (@Ryan_Johnson) March 11, 2022
Moments after handing down the sentence — which also includes a 30-month term of probation, and nearly $150,000 in restitution and fines — Linn had asked Smollett if he had any questions. Smollett lowered his face mask and spoke.
"No, I would just like to say to your honor that I am, uh, I am not suicidal," Smollett, 39, said, calmly at first.
Then he started shouting it, angrily.
"I am not suicidal! I am innocent. And I am not suicidal. If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of black Americans who have been in this country for over 400 years, and the fears of the LGBT community."
Rising to his feet at the defense table, he added, "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," he said, his hands together as if in prayer, "then I did not do it to myself."
Smollett's request for protective custody was granted shortly afterward, according to court documents.
"Mr. Smollett shall serve the 150 day jail sentence in protective custody by Mr. Smollett's request and this Court's recommendation," Linn wrote.
The actor will be held in Cook County Jail; the Fox affiliate in Chicago noted that protective custody is common in high-profile cases and that Smollett would likely only serve half his sentence with good behavior.