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\n\tFugees<\/a> rapper Pras<\/a> Michel wants to remain out of prison while he appeals the verdict on his convictions of conspiracy, money laundering, and illegal lobbying<\/a> that led to his ensuing 14-year prison sentence<\/a>. A new legal filing cites the appeal \u201cpresents substantial questions\u201d surrounding alleged \u201cegregious\u201d errors during his trial, including issues over \u201cimproper jury influence\u201d and \u201csufficiency of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn the motion for bail pending appeal filed Friday, which was obtained by Rolling Stone<\/em>, Pras\u2019 lawyers argued Michel should be allowed to first appeal the verdict rather than report to prison. \u201cNeither the D.C. Circuit nor any other Court of Appeals has ever confronted this extraordinary degree of improper jury influence, which appears to be unprecedented,\u201d the motion states.<\/p>\n \n\tIn the new filing, which followed Michel and his legal team\u2019s official notice of appeal from earlier in December, the lawyers claimed that the trial judge said Michel \u201cwas guilty on at least eight occasions by referring to Michel and others as co-conspirators and ruling in front of the jury that the co-conspirator exception to the rule against hearsay applied, further influencing the jury.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt also called \u201cpermitting FBI Agent Robert Heuchling to provide improper overview testimony and to opine on at least 25 occasions that Michel was guilty\u201d the most \u201cegregious example\u201d that \u201cfurther\u201d influenced the jury.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis wasn\u2019t a fair trial. This was a coronation of guilt,\u201d Michel\u2019s spokesperson\u00a0Erica Dumas\u00a0said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re confident the appeals court will recognize this case for what it is, an unprecedented trial that denies Pras\u2019 constitutional right to an impartial jury.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2019, the federal government indicted Michel on four criminal counts of making illegal contributions to Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign. Two years later, the government added charges to the indictment, as discussed in a\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>feature<\/a>, including bank fraud, concealment of material facts, witness tampering, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and working as an unregistered agent of the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n