R. Kelly’s pleas to be released from jail while awaiting several trials during the COVID-19 pandemic were denied, but the embattled R&B singer has been granted a trip. On Thursday, April 15, A federal judge approved a request to move Kelly to New York City to go on trial this summer after several delays in his sex trafficking case.
The 12 Play singer has been in jail in Chicago, where he could face a second trial in the fall in another federal case related to a sprawling sex crimes investigation. The trial in federal court in New York was delayed because of the pandemic according to the Associated Press.
During the virtual hearing, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly told lawyers that there are courthouse protections in place that would allow R. Kelly’s federal trial for racketeering, sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and enticement to finally go forward on Aug. 9. Questionnaires to potential jurors will be sent out beginning on July 26.
Kelly has denied the allegations and is looking forward to his day in court according to his attorneys. “He’s excited about the possibility of his case to be heard in a fulsome way where witness testimony can be tested and put in the proper context,” Michael Leonard, one of Kelly’s attorney’s told Billboard.
The three-time Grammy award winner is facing charges in New York alleging that for over twenty years he was the leader of a racketeering enterprise made up of managers, bodyguards, drivers, personal assistants, and runners who recruited women and girls to engage in illicit sexual activity with the platinum-selling vocalist and songwriter. According to court documents by the Department of Justice, the charges against Kelly involve six different victims and many of the sexual encounters were recorded or photographed.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer has been housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago since he was taken into custody in July 2019. The judge also said the government should start preparations to move Kelly to a New York jail, most likely the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
