2 women living with R. Kelly expected to attend his sex crimes hearing
Singer R. Kelly is due in court Tuesday morning in connection with sex crimes charges — and two women who say they've been living in a consensual relationship with the singer are expected to attend.
In a video posted by TMZ on Monday, Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary — who spoke to "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King this March — expressed support for the singer.
"We are just so thankful for everything that you guys are saying and doing and trying to do to help him," the girls said in the video.
Last week, federal prosecutors charged Kelly with new crimes including paying off alleged victims and child pornography. Those federal indictments add to similar state charges.
Meanwhile, attorney Michael Avenatti said R. Kelly paid more than $2 million to silence a girl and her family at the center of a 2008 child pornography trial against the embattled singer. None of them testified, and a jury eventually acquitted Kelly of all charges in the case.
"The fact that he was acquitted, it was bogus," Avenatti said.
Now, Avenatti says he represents nine clients in connection with Kelly's prosecution, including victims, parents and so-called "whistleblowers" — one of whom Avenatti says was paid to retrieve a missing sex tape featuring a minor.
"And he specifically told the associate that his life was, quote, 'on the line,'" Avenatti said. He also claimed that the federal charges stem from sex tapes he turned over to local prosecutors earlier this year. Avenatti is facing unrelated federal charges of his own, including fraud and extortion, which he has said he intends to fight.
Avenatti said at least two sex tapes are part of the evidence now threatening Kelly with life behind bars. On Friday, federal prosecutors in Illinois and New York unsealed 18 charges against the singer, accusing him of crimes against women and girls over two decades. Tuesday's hearing will discuss bail and arraignment.
In an explosive interview with King this March, Kelly defended his record and denied that he had broken any laws regarding his conduct with women.
