Jussie Smollett Seeks New Trial After Guilty Verdict For Falsely Reporting A Hate Crime
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Jussie Smollett’s legal saga has not ended after his conviction. The actor claims his constitutional rights were violated in the original trial where he was found guilty. According to NBC News, Smollett seeks a new trial or a not guilty verdict. First reported by TMZ, 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.”
One claim made by Smollett is the violation of his constitutional rights when the court prevented his legal team from actively participating in the jury selection process. The report found he and his legal team were allegedly not allowed to ask questions of the potential jurors preventing them from discovering any biases or “questionable impartiality.”
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The 39-year-old’s legal team also made the claim 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,” expressed the filing according to NBC.
Smollett was found guilty of five of the six charges against him related to an alleged racist and homophobic attack in December 2021. At the time, his attorney Nenye Uche “respectfully disagrees” and plans to appeal the verdict. With the conviction, the actor faces three years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
