New updates have arrived in the staged hate crime case of Jussie Smollett.
Full story below…
In new documents obtained by TMZ, Smollett’s lawyers are now asking the judge to undo his verdict and instead find him not guilty of disorderly conduct for faking a police report. However, if that is not the case, they are asking that a new trial be held.
The documents claim that the court violated his constitutional rights when his defense team was prevented in actively helping with the jury selection.
The former ‘Empire’ star claims that his lawyers were not allowed to ask questions of potential jurors and that the jury pool was tainted.
Moreover, he goes on to cite racism by the prosecutors as a barrier when it came to selecting the jury.
He further claims that the judge wrongfully banned the media from the courtroom and that witnesses were pressured to give false testimony.
The news come after he was found guilty of staging a false hate crime last year and vowed to appeal the guilty verdict (as we reported here).