Todd and Julie Chrisley officially reported to jail this past week months after being sentenced to years in prison as a result of tax fraud and other offenses. At present, Todd is looking at 12 years of imprisonment, while Julie is to serve 7, with both also receiving 16 months of probation each. Despite their current situation, their lawyer, Alex Little, still believes they’ll get a retrial at some point in the future. With that, he’s provided an explanation as to why he thinks that could happen.
Shortly after the Chrisleys were sentenced in November, Alex Little provided comment, saying that he was “optimistic” about his clients’ attempt to appeal the case. Little asserted, at the time, that the trial was “marred by serious and repeated errors.” An alleged mistake he mentioned is that “the government” was “lying to jurors about what taxes the couple paid.” The attorney expanded upon his argument during an interview with ET, during which he brought up two specific points:
The very beginning of this case there was an unconstitutional search by the Georgia Department of Revenue. This court's already found that was unconstitutional and it should've stopped the whole case in its tracks. That didn't happen. And that's certainly one of the things we're pursuing on the appeal. The second piece is, one of the IRS officers testified about whether the Chrisleys had paid certain taxes. That certainly, we think, affected the jury and we believe it will be basis for a new trial.
Via their motion, the Chrisleys asserted that the court allowed “substantial volumes of evidence at trial which were obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment.” They also say that by doing that, the court did not “properly enforce its suppression order.” So far, the couple’s bank fraud appeal has been unsuccessful, as their request for bail and an extension on their surrender date was denied nearly two weeks ago. Another argument at play here is whether the Chrisley Knows Best stars showed remorse for their actions, and Alex Little weighed in on why that has created a “dilemma” for them:
It's certainly true that courts want to hear defendants accept responsibility, but it's also hard to accept responsibility when you haven't done what you're accused of doing. It's a difficulty any innocent person faces when they are convicted and sentenced. I've had people who have been found not guilty of murder a decade later and that whole time some court believed they weren't showing remorse when they were actually innocent. So, it's always a dilemma for anybody who's wrongfully convicted.
Reports indicated that Julie and Todd Chrisley were not happy shortly after being sentenced to years in prison. They purportedly felt “they were targeted unfairly by the judge” due to their statuses as reality TV stars. Between the time that they were found guilty and eventually had to report to jail, both spoke about their headspaces. Todd, in particular, mentioned that he was “struggling” but that his faith was keeping him going during the turbulent time. In a no holds barred interview, the Chrisley patriarch also called out his old business associate, Mark Braddock, who claimed they’d had a gay affair. Todd referred to him as a “toad,” among other things.
The couple’s children have also had their backs during this time, sharing supportive social media messages in the days leading up to their report dates. Before that, daughter Lindsie Chrisley shared about how her parents were using their time ahead of their surrenders. She stated that they were spending time with their family and “living every day like it's your last.” They reportedly did that very thing during their last weekend as free people.
As of right now, Todd and Julie Chrisley remain incarcerated, as Alex Little seeks to get them a retrial. He went on to tell ET that the stars would want people to know that “they didn't do these things” and are “going to fight to get their name cleared.” Only time will tell regarding whether they’ll be successful on that front.
