Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett has filed legal paperwork demanding a new trial or a not guilty verdict after he was convicted of lying about being the victim of a homophobic and racist attack.
In documents obtained by NBC News, the 83-page statement says that Smollett believes his Constitutional rights were compromised when his legal team were allegedly not allowed to take part in the jury selection. His attorneys stated the judge “made numerous trial errors leading up to the trial and during the pendency of the trial.”
“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,” the filing says, according to the news outlet.
Smollett, who rocketed to international fame during his tenure on the blockbuster series “Empire,” has stated through his lawyers that they were unable to ask jurors about their impartiality given how the case had been sensationalized.
As most pop culture watchers are aware, Smollett, was convicted during his Chicago trial on five of the six felony charges against him for fabricating a story about being beaten in Chicago in January 2019. After initially investigating the case as a hate crime, Chicago police wound up charging Smollett with faking the racist and homophobic beating.
The jury believed that two extras on the “Empire” set, Abimbola and Olabingo Osundairo, aided Smollett in staging the beating the police believed was done to advance Smollett’s career.
