Attorneys for Jussie Smollett filed a motion for a new trial or changed verdict in his hate crime hoax as the actor awaits his sentencing.
The 83-page filing with the Cook County Circuit Court claimed there were multiple pretrial errors and alleged the judge violated Smollett’s Sixth Amendment rights by refusing to let the defense team ask questions — a measure the judge said was necessary due to the high-profile nature of the case.
“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,” Smollett’s attorney Mark Lewis wrote, according to the New York Post. “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.”
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The trial judge made the wrong decision when defense attorneys argued some potential jurors were dismissed because of their race, and the trial was not truly “public” because media and members of the public were not allowed in the courtroom due to the pandemic, the filing claimed.
The former Empire actor was found guilty on five out of six counts for disorderly conduct charges by a jury in Cook County, Illinois, in December of last year after he made a false report of a hate crime.
Smollett, a black gay man, told police he was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack in 2019. According to Smollett, he was jumped while walking down the street in Chicago. The two men who attacked him wore masks, and they shouted racist and homophobic words as they beat him, according to Smollett’s account. The men then placed a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him, he said.
The brothers who carried out the crimes have claimed they were paid by Smollett to attack him, but the actor denied that allegation.
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Jurors heard from 14 witnesses across six days, according to CBS Chicago. Police and prosecutors said Smollett paid and orchestrated the attack because he felt the police were not taking a hate-filled letter he received seriously. The letter came to Smollett at the studio where Empire was being filmed. Smollett allegedly was also planning to use the video footage of the attack for publicity, but the incident was never filmed.
Smollett is scheduled for sentencing on March 10. Each crime carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison, meaning he could spend up to 15 years behind bars.
