MANCHESTER — A lawyer has asked a judge to rethink the guilty verdict against Adam “Ademo” Mueller, the Free Stater convicted last month of illegal wiretapping.

In a court filing, Concord lawyer Brandon Ross said the law was applied incorrectly, and Mueller should have been convicted of a misdemeanor, if anything. He also said Mueller, the co-founder of the police-monitoring CopBlock.org website, has a constitutional right to make sure the taped individuals — police Capt. Jon Hopkins, West High principal MaryEllen McGorry and a school secretary — are accountable to the public.

“It is unconstitutional to allow public employees to convert a privacy shield for citizens (the wiretap law) into a sword with which to attack citizen journalists for recording statements those public employees made while they were on the job and voluntarily interacting with the public,” Ross wrote.

Mueller was convicted of recording telephone conversations with the three about the 2011 take-down and arrest of a West High student in the school cafeteria.

Mueller, who represented himself at the trial, received a three-month sentence. Ross, who is taking his case pro bono, filed a motion Aug. 23 to set aside the verdict.

It was rejected on Aug. 28, and Ross said he will file a motion for reconsideration, then an appeal if necessary.