R. Kelly Absent At Hearing On Federal Charges, Attorney Says He Had Toenail Removed Due To Infection
CHICAGO (CBS) -- R. Kelly missed his most recent hearing on federal sex crime charges in Chicago on Wednesday, after his attorney told the judge the singer had to have a toenail removed due to an infection.
Kelly is being held without bond, and had been ordered to appear for a status hearing in his case on Wednesday, but defense attorney Steve Greenberg said Kelly had a toenail removed due to an infection, and he was worried someone might step on the injured toe while Kelly was being transported from the federal lockup to court.
The singer faces federal charges in Chicago accusing him of producing and receiving child pornography, obstruction of justice, and coercing minors to engage in sex. Two of his former employees also face charges of trying to help Kelly cover up those crimes.
The indictment against Kelly and his co-defendants accuse former manager Derrel McDavid of conspiring to cover up videotapes Kelly allegedly made of himself sexually abusing children. Another Kelly employee, Milton "June" Brown, faces child pornography charges for allegedly helping ship videotapes of Kelly's sexual crimes in the U.S. mail.
McDavid and Brown have pleaded not guilty, and McDavid's attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss some of the charges against him. During Wednesday's hearing, the judge in Kelly's case gave federal prosecutors five weeks to respond to McDavid's motion.
Kelly's attorneys also have a standing motion asking for him to be released on bail, but so far federal judges in Chicago and New York have denied those requests.
The defendants are due back in court in February.
Kelly's trial on the federal charges has been scheduled for April 27, 2020. The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
Kelly has been in federal custody since July 11, when he was arrested in connection with two separate federal cases in Chicago and New York.
The federal indictment in Chicago charges him with 13 felony counts including child pornography, enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and obstruction of justice.
According to the charges in Chicago, Kelly sexually abused five girls in the late 1990s, made videos of four of the victims, and then paid hush money and made threats to cover up his sex crimes.
The charges also include allegations he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover tapes of him sexually abusing the girl at the center of his 2008 child pornography trial and coerced the victim to lie about what happened.
Federal prosecutors have suggested they could file a more far-ranging indictment in the case against Kelly and two associates, potentially adding new charges and additional defendants.
Meantime, the New York charges against Kelly stem from five women and girls who are identified only as "Jane Does" in court documents. The alleged incidents date back to 1999.
The New York indictment specifically charges Kelly with five felony counts, including racketeering and Mann Act violations, which involve transporting a person across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity. The racketeering case also accuses him of kidnapping, sexual exploitation of a child, and forced labor.
Federal prosecutors said Kelly and his managers, bodyguards, and other employees acted as a criminal enterprise to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly. Kelly and his enterprise would pick out women and girls who attended his concerts and other events; and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly. He would later hold them against their will, according to the feds.
Once the women and girls Kelly had picked started staying with him, he and his employees would set rules his victims had to follow, including not leaving their rooms without Kelly's permission, even to eat or go to the bathroom; not looking at other men; to wear baggy clothing whenever they weren't with him; demanding absolute commitment to Kelly; and calling the singer "Daddy."
Kelly allegedly coerced some of the girls he'd abused to engage in sexually explicit conduct on video, which he later had shipped across state lines.
Kelly is also facing multiple sexual assault charges in Cook County. He was first indicted on 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse in February, accusing him of abusing four different victims. In May, prosecutors filed upgraded charges involving one of those victims; including aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The four aggravated criminal sex assault charges are class X felonies and carry prison terms of up to 30 years if he's convicted.
At a hearing in June, Cook County Judge Lawrence Flood said he would like to set a trial date for early next year. Because Kelly is accused of sexually abusing four victims, prosecutors must first decide which of those cases to take to trial first.
Kelly also faces prostitution charges in Minnesota.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
