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Lawyers representing Jussie Smollett have filed a motion asking a Chicago decide Friday to throw out the convicted hate hoaxer’s guilty verdict or grant the disgraced actor a brand new trial. Smollett’s authorized counsel are arguing that his constitutional rights have been violated by the courtroom in the course of the jury choice course of.
Smollett’s authorized counsel declare that the courtroom made quite a few errors in the course of the high-profile trial in 2021, calling it “a lightning rod for the political divisions plaguing the country,” according to a submitting obtained by the New York Post.
In the authorized motion, Smollett’s attorneys argued that his proper to a public trial was violated as a result of the quantity of spectators and members of the press observing have been restricted due to COVID-19 restrictions in place amid the pandemic.
The motion alleges the courtroom endorsed “procedures and tactics” that allowed prosecutors to exclude black and homosexual potential panelists from the jury field.
“The State failed to prove the Defendant guilty of the charges against him
beyond all reasonable doubt and failed to prove every material allegation of the indictment beyond all reasonable doubt,” legal professional Mark Lewis wrote.
“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,” he said.
The protection’s post-trial motion got here two weeks earlier than Smollett was set to be sentenced. Smollett faces up to three years behind bars on every of the 5 counts of felony disorderly conduct. Sentencing can be up to Judge James Linn who will determing whether or not Smollett will get any time in any respect, the New York Post reported.
Smollett was discovered guilty in December of staging a hate crime after alleging that two pro-Trump bigots attacked the celeb on a chilly night time in January 2019.
During the trial, Smollett’s story didn’t maintain up below intense scrutiny. Among different issues, a Subway sandwich he was carrying with him on the time he claimed to have been assaulted by some means made it again house intact afterwards.
After the conviction, Smollett’s lead legal professional stated they’re planning to attraction and that the actor is “100 percent confident” he can be cleared by an appeals courtroom.
Following the hundreds of hours the Chicago Police Department spent investigating Smollett’s hate crime hoax, he’s being sued over $130,000 for the time spent by the police division’s officers investigating the incident.
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