Nearly two months after being convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, disgraced artist R. Kelly is scheduled to return to court in his hometown in Chicago for a second federal trial, this time on allegations of child pornography and obstruction of justice.
Jury selection is set to begin Monday in a case involving six women who claim Kelly, 55, enticed them into sex activities when they were minors. According to court papers, at least two people are likely to testify.
R. Kelly To Face Federal Trial in Chicago
This trial is anticipated to revive claims made 14 years ago against Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, in a state trial on counts of child pornography, for which he was finally acquitted. R. Kelly is accused of obstructing justice in the 2008 criminal prosecution in Cook County, which contained a video recording of Kelly allegedly sexually assaulting a juvenile.
According to federal accusations, the singer will be prosecuted with his former business manager, Derrel McDavid, and associate, Milton 'June' Brown, who are both accused of conspiring with Kelly to intimidate and bribe witnesses and cover up evidence in the 2008 trial, NBC News reported.
Prosecutors have not said who they would summon to testify, but court filings indicate that they now have the cooperation of the lady whose testimony was a missing piece of evidence in their case in 2008, as well as her mother. Authorities have the assistance of four more victims who claim Kelly forced them into intercourse while they were young between 1996 and 2001.
Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, who will preside over the case, recently decided that any accusers asked to testify may do so behind pseudonyms. Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly's lawyer, did not reply to requests for comment on the matter. Kelly did not testify in the Brooklyn trial.
In a tweet last week, Bonjean said it would be difficult to find 12 reasonable jurors given the media war on my client. The trials are anticipated to be similar in that the prosecution's case will rely on evidence from those who believe Mr. Kelly solicited them for sex, but the legal techniques will differ.
Kelly was convicted on one count of racketeering in Brooklyn based on charges that he was the ringleader of a criminal business that engaged in bribery, kidnapping, and forced labor. In addition, he was found guilty on eight counts of breaking the Mann Act, a sex trafficking crime.
Joycelyn Savage Says She Is Pregnant with R. Kelly's Child
The accusations in the trial, which begin this week in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, are as convoluted. Kelly is charged with five counts of coercing a minor into criminal sexual activity, four counts of doing so to film the conduct, two counts of receiving child pornography, one count of conspiring to receive child pornography, and one count of conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation.
According to New York Times, the illegal union of Kelly and singer Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 27 is one aspect of his past that is unlikely to be discussed. The marriage played a key role in the prosecution against Kelly in Brooklyn, where a witness testified that Kelly sexually assaulted Aaliyah when she was just 14 years old.
R. Kelly's legal team urged the court in the Chicago trial to exclude marriage-related evidence, and prosecutors answered that they did not intend to bring such evidence. Meanwhile, R. Kelly's victim who claims she and the artist are engaged alleged that she is pregnant with his kid.
Joycelyn Savage, Kelly's long-term girlfriend, moved out of her parent's house and into the residence of the infamous singer in Chicago when she was 17 to pursue a singing career, and by 19 she had lost contact with her family before breaking connections with them.
The 26-year-old has now issued a 24-page eBook in which she claims to be pregnant with Kelly's kid, but the disgraced musician's lawyer has categorically disputed this. Attorney Jennifer Bonjean said Savage is definitely not pregnant with R.Kelly's child, as per Metro.
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