Jussie Smollett seeks a new trial in hate crime case

Jussie Smollett is seeking a new trial after being convicted of falsely reporting a hate crime.

The 39-year-old actor was convicted of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for making false police reports, after staging a fake hate crime in 2019, but he’s now filed paperwork to get a new trial.

In the 83-page document, the actor claims that his constitutional rights were violated during the case, as his legal team were blocked from actively participating in the jury selection process.

In the documents – which have been obtained by NBC – his attorneys claim that the court “made numerous trial errors leading up to the trial and during the pendency of the trial”.

The legal team also argue that the evidence was “insufficient and inconsistent so that no reasonable trier of fact could have found Mr. Smollett guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and thus there is evidence that the jury verdict was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence”.

The document adds: “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.”

In December, the former ‘Empire’ star was found guilty on five of the six charges he faced in court.

Smollett was convicted on five counts related to giving a false report to police on the day of the alleged attack.

However, he was found not guilty on the sixth count of giving a false report to police at a later date, following the incident in Chicago in January 2019.

The actor initially reported an alleged attack outside his apartment by two men in ski masks. Smollett claimed that he was subjected to racist and homophobic abuse.

Smollett also alleged that he had an “unknown chemical substance” dumped on him and had a noose put around his neck.