R. Kelly’s Lawyers Want The Court To Throw Out Allegations That He Abused An Underage Boy
Last month, prosecutors in the New York case against 54-year-old R. Kelly told the court they wanted to submit some more evidence and more allegations against him. R. Kelly has been absolutely drowning in federal allegations at this point, from sex trafficking to underage sexual abuse; and in more than one state, he’s got cases in Minnesota and Illinois as well. But still, those NY prosecutors found some more alleged awfulness, like recordings between R. Kelly and a Crisis Manager who allegedly confirmed a bribe and who R. Kelly talked to about bribing a bailiff. They also submitted allegations that R. Kelly groomed and abused underage boys. But don’t you dare think of bringing that up in court! Because R. Kelly’s lawyers argue that jurors could be homophobic, and so their bigotry could negatively impact R. Kelly.
According to the Chicago Tribune, R. Kelly was supposed to start his New York trial on August 9 and then was supposed to begin the Chicago trial in September. But because that’s too back to back, they may have to stagger R. Kelly’s appearances, and so another status hearing for Chicago has been set for August 17 “to see if (the New York case) actually starts.” And ahead of his New York trial, his lawyers are trying to stop jurors from hearing new evidence.
R. Kelly is alleged to have met a 17-year-old boy at McDonald’s and later abused that boy. That 17-year-old introduced R. Kelly to another 17-year-old boy who allegedly had a “sexual relationship” with him years after meeting. TMZ says that his legal team has tried to get the evidence thrown out because homophobes might take their issues out on R. Kelly:
Of the many reasons they list in their docs, obtained by TMZ, Kelly’s attorneys–Thomas A. Farinella and Nicole Blank Becker–list timeliness (or a lack thereof), ongoing anonymity, purpose and jury selection as their main concerns for why this stuff shouldn’t be heard.
The jury thing is perhaps the most interesting though–it speaks to what Kelly’s team appears to be anticipating in terms of jurors who may or may not have a bias on the issue of same-sex relationships. That’s important … ’cause the jury questionnaire is already filed and submitted, which his lawyers say is messed up considering this late, new development.
Long story short, his attorneys argue the questionnaires potential jurors will see soon are “void of a single question about their opinions or feelings on same-sex relationships”-which they think is important, since that could end in bigots on the panel who may decide unfavorably against Kelly simply due of the nature of the evidence/allegations … aka, the implication that R. Kelly is gay and/or bisexual. His attorneys say … that’s not fair.
The 2 attorneys further tell TMZ that it’s no secret the issue of sexual orientation is still a lightning rod issue in 2021, and needs to be vetted to give Kelly an impartial jury.
His lawyers argue that there isn’t enough time to prepare a proper defense with this added evidence. Um, there isn’t going to be a good defense without it–remember the tapes?
Do you know who else doesn’t want this evidence submitted? Probably McDonald’s. At this point, their PR team is just tracking their Google Alerts for the name R. Kelly and praying nothing comes up. Somebody needs to create a new website–you know how there’s the McBroken one that tracks the McDonald’s with the broken ice cream machines? They need one that tracks all the McDonald’s parking lots that creepers frequent–McPredators.
Pic: YouTube