R. Kelly won’t get out of jail before trial due to coronavirus risk, New York judge rules

A federal judge in Brooklyn shot down R&B singer R. Kelly’s request to get out of jail amid the coronavirus outbreak Tuesday, meaning he will continue to sit behind bars while he awaits trial on federal indictments alleging racketeering, child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Kelly, 53, has been held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since his arrest last summer. Three staff members there, but no inmates, have so far tested positive for the coronavirus. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has said inmates in every institution “will be secured in their assigned cells/quarters to decrease the spread of the virus” for the first two weeks of April.

But the singer’s attorneys on March 26 asked for his release, arguing he is “within the group of people the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has categorized as most-at-risk for contracting COVID-19.” They did not specify Kelly’s underlying health conditions other than mentioning a surgery.

Kelly filed his request in Chicago and in New York because he faces indictments in both court districts.

In shooting him down, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn at least granted one wish from Kelly: She made her ruling before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago made his. Kelly’s attorneys had said they wanted that to happen because they did not want Kelly to wind up “in the same unhealthy conditions, just in New York.”

Donnelly wrote that Kelly “is currently in custody because of the risks that he will flee or attempt to obstruct, threaten or intimidate prospective witnesses. The defendant has not explained how those risks have changed.”

Prosecutors in Brooklyn argued that federal facilities, including the MCC, had been taking steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They wrote, “a generalized risk alone does not justify releasing the entire Bureau of Prisons population, much less a prisoner being held for racketeering charges involving crimes against specified victims with a history of obstructing justice.”

“Simply residing in MCC Chicago cannot be a basis for being released,” they wrote.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago had until April 15 to reply to Kelly’s separate request here, but U.S. judges in Chicago have so far not shown an inclination to release defendants for fear of the coronavirus alone. Following Donnelly’s ruling, Kelly defense attorney Steve Greenberg said he would ask Leinenweber to hold the Chicago request in abeyance.

The federal indictments Kelly faces are in addition to earlier local charges in Cook County and more recent charges in Minnesota. The federal case in Chicago alleges child pornography and obstruction of justice, while the feds in Brooklyn have alleged racketeering.

Kelly is set to go to trial in Brooklyn on July 7, and his federal trial in Chicago is set for Oct. 13. It’s unclear if either trial will start on schedule, given the coronavirus outbreak. U.S. Chief District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago canceled all criminal and civil jury trials set to begin on or before May 29.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn also filed a revised indictment against Kelly on March 12, further threatening to upset Kelly’s trial schedule. His arraignment on that indictment — expected to occur by video — is not scheduled until April 30.