R. Kelly
The latest updates and coverage of Robert Sylvester Kelly, the entertainer known as R. Kelly, as he faces felony charges that include sexual abuse, child pornography and racketeering.
The witness stood apart from other women who have testified for the government against the R&B superstar in federal court by not accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.
The pastor who secretly wed Kelly and Aaliyah when she was 15 years old said the singers wore matching “jogging suits” — each with one pant leg pulled up — for a 10-minute ceremony at a Chicago-area hotel.
The witness, taking the stand without using her real name, said she was 19 when her older half sister invited her to a Kelly concert in San Antonio in 2017. Her sibling was a fan of his music, she said, but “I was not.”
The witness, testifying in federal court in Brooklyn without using his real name, told a jury how Kelly lured him to his Chicago-area home in 2007 with false offers of helping him with his fledgling music career.
Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin decades ago. R. Kelly said they were both misunderstood geniuses.
The witness read for the jury parts of one letter in which she told Kelly that if he tried to break up with her, “I’m going to tell everyone you raped me. … I’m going to say you raped me since I was a minor.”
Kelly’s supporters have characterized the accusers as unreliable groupies hoping to profit off their connection to the singer. But an aggressive attack on their credibility in front of the jury could backfire.
Kelly was there in the shadows when she and another live-in girlfriend spoke to King for a “CBS This Morning” segment in 2019 the woman said. She described how he would cough as a signal to keep them on script, backing up his denials, she said.
The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe,” wept when she also claimed that she contracted herpes after having sex with Kelly.
Demetrius Smith told a jury at Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial that after he went into a Chicago-area welfare office in 1994, he brazenly approached an employee who was taking ID photos. “Hey, want to make some money?” he said he asked the employee before handing over the cash.
Jerhonda Pace, who had remained stoic during nearly two days on the witness stand, read how Kelly cursed at her and slapped her three times, telling her, “It’s not going to be an open fist next time.” She wrote that he choked her and sexually assaulted her before she “became fed up with him” and left.
“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez told the jury during opening statements in the Brooklyn trial. “This case is about a predator.”
The jury selection spanned three days with the R & B singer seen on a video feed sitting impassively at the defense table, wearing glasses and dressed in a suit.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly began questioning potential jurors about whether they can keep an open mind about Kelly two years after he was charged with abusing women and girls for nearly two decades.
While Kelly’s 2008 acquittal may linger in many minds, he faces a far more perilous legal challenge this time, in federal court. Not even a full acquittal would necessarily set him free.
The R&B singer is charged with leading an enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who helped him recruit women and girls for sex.
Here’s a rundown of the legal terms frequently used in R. Kelly’s Brooklyn trial.
The revelations came as U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly in New York made a series of rulings to narrow down what evidence can be shown to jurors.
The new allegation surfaced in a lengthy court filing in which prosecutors asked a judge permission to admit allegations of uncharged crimes during Kelly’s racketeering trial in Brooklyn, set to begin next month.
Thursday’s hearing came as attorneys continued with final preparations for Kelly’s long-delayed sex-trafficking trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 9 in Brooklyn federal court.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly said jury selection would go forward on Aug. 9 as originally planned but agreed to delay opening statements until Aug. 18 rather than start the openings right after the panel is picked
The judge presiding over his case in New York said last week she wanted to question Kelly in person about a potential conflict of interest involving one of his lawyers.
The hearing on Thursday centered on a potential conflict of interest created by lawyer Nicole Blank Becker if she ever gave legal advice to Azriel Clary, Kelly’s former girlfriend who is referred to as Jane Doe #5 in the indictment against him.
The judge did not explain what prompted the hearing, but she had previously ordered Kelly’s Chicago-based attorneys to file a letter explaining why they decided to withdraw from Kelly’s racketeering case.
Kelly’s leading defense attorneys threw a wrench into the case earlier this week when they asked to withdraw from the case two months before trial. Other members of the legal team say they were fired.
But two remaining members of Kelly’s defense team say attorneys Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard were fired by the singer before they asked to withdraw Monday.
Kelly has been held in Chicago’s downtown federal lock-up since 2019. But the judge presiding over his case in Brooklyn said Thursday Kelly will likely go to trial there in August.
The coronavirus pandemic repeatedly thwarted attempts to put Kelly, 54, on trial in 2020. Instead, he’s been held in federal custody in Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center despite multiple requests for bail.
The judge who set the date acknowledged it is “not set in stone” given the unpredictability caused by the pandemic.