Empire actor Jussie Smollett as being reported by TMZ, wants a do-over in court, and he is asking for a new trial in Chicago and taking issue with the initial jury selection process, and also willing to accept a not-guilty verdict.
According to the report by TMZ, the defence team to the Empire actor Jussie Smollett, just filed a new legal document asking the judge to reverse the verdict and find him not guilty of disorderly conduct for faking a police report or at least give him a new trial.
The latest from the Empire actor Jussie Smollett and his defence team is coming after a jury in Illinois decided Jussie was lying to Police about being the victim of a homophobic and racist attack.
The jurors found the “Empire” actor guilty of 5 of the 6 felony counts against him, including disorderly conduct charges or allegedly providing a false report to the Police.
TMZ reports that in the document obtained by them, Jussie claims the court violated his constitutional rights when it prevented his defence team from actively participating in the jury selection process.
Jussie claims his lawyers were not allowed to ask questions of potential jurors and his defence claims the jury pool for the high-profile case was tainted.
He’s also claiming prosecutors showed a pattern of racism in selecting jurors.
Jussie’s defence also claims the judge wrongfully barred the media and public from the courtroom and he says prosecutors pressured witnesses to give false testimony.
That’s not all, Jussie’s legal team also says the judge wrongfully limited the defence questioning of witnesses.
Jussie’s legal team signalled an appeal was coming after the verdict was reached back in December and now they have followed through.