Jussie Smollett wants a do-over in court, he’s asking for a new trial in Chicago and taking issue with the initial jury selection process — but he’d also willing to accept a not-guilty verdict.
The actor’s defense team just filed new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, 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.
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Remember … a jury in Illinois decided Jussie was lying to cops 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 cops.
In the docs, Jussie claims the court violated his constitutional rights when it prevented his defense team from actively participating in the jury selection process.
1/29/2019
Jussie claims his lawyers were not allowed to ask questions of potential jurors … and his defense claims the jury pool for the high-profile case was tainted.
He’s also claiming prosecutors showed a pattern of racism in selecting jurors.
In the docs, Jussie’s defense also claims the judge wrongfully barred the media and public from the courtroom … and he says prosecutors pressured witnesses to give false testimony.
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That’s not all … Jussie’s legal team also says the judge wrongfully limited the defense questioning of witnesses.
Jussie’s legal team signaled an appeal was coming after the verdict was reached back in December … and now they’ve followed through.