The embattled reality TV stars on Tuesday reported to prison to serve a combined 19-year sentence.
Todd and Julie Chrisley are adamant they'll get a retrial in the federal tax fraud case that, for now, has landed them in prison for a combined 19 years. And their lawyer claims two critical errors made by federal prosecutors will help their appeal.
In an interview with ET's Deidre Behar, the attorney for the Chrisleys, Alex Little, spoke about why the embattled reality TV stars are now hopeful that justice will be served. He also opened up about the avenue his legal team will walk down as they look for a do-over.
Todd and Julie on Tuesday reported to prison following their June convictions. Todd, who has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars, reported to Federal Correctional Institution Pensacola in Florida, while Julie, sentenced to seven years, will do time at Federal Medical Center Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky.
From the time they were convicted until right before they reported to prison, the Chrisleys have been vocal about an unjust system, claiming they've been falsely accused of wrongdoing. But as their case heads to the court of appeals, the Chrisleys are now singing a different tune.
"Well, look, I mean, there are different players in each step in a criminal prosecution," Little tells ET. "You've got the prosecutor who brings a case. You've got the jury and the judge that try the case, then you've got the appeals court. Its purpose is to review what that court -- the prior court -- has done. Those are different people, and you can believe that you are sort of harmed at the lower levels and can be hopeful that [the appeals court] will stop when you move on along the appeal."
Little says there are two critical points he believes will help the Chrisleys in their appeal.
"The very beginning of this case there was an unconstitutional search by the Georgia Department of Revenue," Little claims. "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."
In their motion for a new trial, the Chrisleys -- whose motion for bail pending the appeal was denied a week before reporting to prison -- accused the court of admitting "substantial volumes of evidence at trial which were obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment," citing financial documents they say were "unlawfully seized" by Georgia's Department of Revenue and initially suppressed by the court. The filing went on to accuse the court of failing to "properly enforce its suppression order" by allowing some of said documentation to be admitted into evidence.
Little also spoke about the fact that the Chrisleys never showed remorse throughout the course of the trial, a notion underscored by a legal expert who told ET that not willing to take any responsibility may have hurt them in the long run.
"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," Little says. "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."
As they wait for what they hope is another day in court, the Chrisleys have just one message to the world.
"I think they'd want folks to know that they are the same people they've always been," Little says. "That they didn't do these things and that they're going to fight to get their name cleared."
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