Jussie Smollett Seeks New Trial After Guilty Verdict
It looks as if Jussie Smollett is ready to go back into court after he received his guilty verdict for falsely reporting a hate crime back in December of 2021.
The Empire alum was found guilty on five of the six charges of disorderly conduct for making a false report to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime.
According to NBC News, Smollett seeks a new trial or a “not guilty” verdict. The actor believes that his constitutional rights were violated in the first trial.
TMZ reports that the former Empire star filed the 83-page document claiming the court “made numerous trial errors leading up to the trial and during the pendency of the trial.”
Smollett claims that there was a violation of his constitutional rights after his leal team was allegedly denied the chance to actively participate in the jury selection process. His team was also allegedly not permitted to ask questions of the potential jurors which could have led them to discover any biases that had of the actor.
Another claim the actor made was that the prosecutor in the initial trial was, “insufficient and inconsistent so that no reasonable trier of fact could have found Mr. Smollett guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and thus there is evidence that the jury verdict was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence.”
“As such, the Defendant now respectfully requests that his convictions be vacated or in the alternative, that the Court grant the Defendant a new trial,” stated in the filing according to NBC.
The 39-year-old faces up to three years in prison but since the actor has no prior criminal history, it is likely that the sentence will end in probation.
