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A Chicago federal judge has rejected R. Kelly’s bid to overturn his conviction last year on child pornography charges, clearing the way for sentencing which is scheduled for next week.
Denying motions filed by Kelly’s lawyers seeking either a new trial or an outright acquittal, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber ruled Thursday (Feb. 16) that federal prosecutors provided jurors with “enough evidence to sustain a guilty verdict on all six counts Kelly was convicted of.”
Among other arguments, Kelly’s lawyers had argued that one of his victims (known as “Jane”) gave false testimony on the witness stand about whether she planned to seek monetary restitution from Kelly if he was ultimately convicted. They said the incident suggested Jane had “motivation to share her story in ways that were not entirely honest.”
But Judge Leinenweber saw things differently: “Simply because Jane and her attorney considered the possibility of restitution, does not mean she lied during her testimony,” the judge wrote.
Following a four-week trial in Chicago federal court, Kelly was found guilty in September on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor. He was acquitted of other charges that accused him of fixing a 2008 state-court trial over the same child pornography accusations.
That conviction came after a federal judge in New York previously sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison in June on separate racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Kelly is set for sentencing on Feb. 23 on the Chicago charges. He faces as many as 90 additional years in prison on those convictions.
In seeking to overturn the conviction, Kelly’s lawyers made a number of arguments, including that the government had failed to show conclusively that the singer “enticed” Jane into making child pornography. But Judge Leinenweber ruled instead that there was “ample” evidence to support the charge.
“Jane testified about how Kelly gradually persuaded her into sexual activity with him,” the judge wrote. “Jane described how Kelly induced her into making Videos One through Three and that Kelly positioned the camera and told Jane exactly what to do and say while having sex with him.”
Thursday’s ruling is not the final decision on Kelly’s conviction. His attorneys can still challenge the outcome to a federal appeals court and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, though they face long odds in overturning a jury’s verdict.
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday’s order.
Read the judge’s entire ruling here:
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R. Kelly has received some favorable news regarding his ongoing legal matters. Illinois prosecutors have dropped sexual assault charges against him.
As per Raw Story, R. Kelly is sighing a breath of relief this week. On Monday (Jan. 30), Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx announced that the state will no longer be pursuing the indictments filed back in 2019. The charges include aggravated criminal sexual abuse and assault and allegedly involved four female victims; three are said to have been underage at the time of the crimes. At a news conference, Foxx explained the reasoning behind the statement in detail.
In essence, timing played a significant role in their decision as two other federal trials took priority. “Due to the extensive sentences these convictions hold, our offices have decided not to expend our limited resources and court time with the indictments” she explained. But with this decision, some of his accusers feel their voices have been silenced.
Lanita Carter, who claims she was assaulted by R. Kelly back in February of 2003, admits she was “extremely disappointed” when she heard the charges were dropped.
“I have spent nearly 20 years hoping that my abuser would be brought to justice for what he did to me. With today’s announcement, all hope of justice for my case is gone,” Carter said in a statement to AP News.
As expected R. Kelly’s legal team agrees with the decision. Steven Greenberg spoke with ABC 7 Chicago about the matter. “In my opinion, the charges should have never been brought in the first place,” Greenberg said.
You can see the press conference below.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Cook County Department of Corrections / Cook County Department of Corrections
Even though R. Kelly is serving time for his crimes, the world will find out more about his creepy ways. The final installment of Surviving R. Kelly premiered on Lifetime Jan. 2.
As per Variety, it seems the disgraced crooner’s ways will be the talk of the town again in 2023. The Lifetime documentary will be returning with a third and final installment. This time the series will not only give updates going into Kelly’s trial and subsequent incarceration, but also detail how he allegedly groomed younger men. Some of the other themes covered include how witnesses were intimidated, following some of the survivors post trial, as well as sourcing feedback from legal and trauma experts.
Executive producer Jesse Daniels granted the media outlet an exclusive interview on how the new episode came to be. “After part one, we said that was it. But as we continued to stay in touch with our survivors, we started to hear about the pressure and the toll of preparing for this trial and gathering the courage to take the stand” he said.
Daniels also says that the project also examines the accusations that Kelly also abused young men. “Our goal was to create a real 360-degree look at what was unfolding every day of the trial, and that certainly was a big chapter of the trial where there were male victims who testified” he explained. “It was certainly something that we had heard in the past, but not in the context of this trial. We felt obligated to tell the whole the arc of the trial and every detail that we could.”
Lastly, the film executive confirmed that R. Kelly enforced NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements) to silence his victims including the late Aaliyah. Episode one of Surviving R. Kelly Part III is available to stream.
Photo: Cook County Department of Corrections
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Source: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty
The R. Kelly story just got even more bizarre. Joycelyn Savage has allegedly given birth to her first child with the disgraced singer.
As reported by MadameNoire, the social media personality made a big announcement last week. On Thursday, Dec. 8 she gave birth to her daughter Ava Lee Kelly. On her Instagram post reveal she wrote “My baby girl Ava when you were born , my whole world shined so bright. I knew that it was no longer about me anymore it was about us . Though the world is cold , I promise to always protect you . I am so happy to be your mother & you bring me so much joy . 12.08.22 🎀💕”.
Earlier this year, Savage announced that she was pregnant with the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s child. Initially the Pied Piper’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, dismissed the claims. “There is no truth to reports that Joy is releasing a tell-all memoir and she is certainly not pregnant with R Kelly’s child. People are just insane. Carry on,” she tweeted.
Jocelyn would go on to detail how the baby came to be in her book Love and Joy of Robert. “His lawyer didn’t know that prior to him going to jail, Robert and I were doing IVF because at the time I was told I couldn’t have a baby,” she wrote. “When he got sent to prison, we paused on it and I had them freeze my eggs until I was ready.”
To hear Savage tell it, Bonjean wanted her to abort the child. “Once his lawyer did find out, she wanted me to have an abortion because she didn’t feel that now was the time for me to have a child following the 30-year sentence” she explained. “Me and Robert wanted to have a child for a long time. He is very happy about it, his lawyer isn’t. Once I told her I was keeping my baby, she didn’t want me to announce but I wanted to share the news. I’ve always been there for him even before this new lawyer came into the picture.”
In recent R. Kelly news, his legal team confirmed that the I Admit It project was pieced together by thieves who allegedly stole a large chunk of his unreleased music. You can read about it here.
Photo: Source: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty
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Source: E. JASON WAMBSGANS / Getty
It looks like the former manager and friend of the Pied Predator of R&B will be joining his disgraced associate in spending time behind bars.
R. Kelly’s one-time manager, Donnell Russell, was sentenced to a year in federal prison Monday (Dec. 19) for calling in a shooting in order to halt Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary from premiering in New York in 2018.
According to the Associated Press, Russell admitted to U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe that he had “made bad judgments” while working with the convicted sex trafficker whose entire adult life and career appears to be a string of bad (and abusive and predatory and gross) judgments.
From AP:
Russell said he reconnected with Kelly, a fellow Chicagoan he’d met decades earlier, as the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was facing a growing series of accusations that eventually fueled Kelly’s sex trafficking and racketeering conviction last year. Russell said he set out to help Kelly with intellectual property matters that he thought could yield the performer money to pay legal bills.
But prosecutors said Russell also worked on something else: trying to suppress the abuse allegations. He tried to intimidate at least one accuser, threatened to sue over Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” series and eventually phoned in the warning that shut down the documentary’s 2018 Manhattan premiere, according to prosecutors.
The phone call claimed that someone at the event had a gun and intended to fire. The screening was canceled and the theater evacuated.
Imagine being such a dedicated protector of an abuser of Black women and girls that you’re willing to call in a terrorist threat in order to shut down a film premier where the voices of numerous alleged victims will be heard.
Gardephe said during sentencing that Russell had engaged in “serious criminal conduct” in “a misguided attempt to protect someone who was a prolific abuser.” (Sounds like the kind of thing one should spend more than a year in lockup for, but OK.)
Russell was convicted in July of threatening physical harm through interstate communication. Days later, he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interstate stalking involving another of Kelly’s accusers. For that, a Brooklyn judge sentenced him to 20 months in prison. Russell is due to turn himself in next year and will serve both prison sentences concurrently.
Following R. Kelly‘s paramount conviction in federal court after decades as a sexual abuser and trafficker, the third installment in Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary series will arrive on Jan. 2-3, as part of a two-night event.
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Titled Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter, the docuseries will feature bombshell revelations from Kelly’s 2021 trial, where he faced charges including racketeering, sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and Mann Act Coercion and Enticement. The series will detail the disgraced R&B star’s crimes, which led to his conviction on nine counts and a sentence of 30 years in prison. Interviewees shed light on key moments including Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage’s infamous interviews with Gayle King, as told by Clary’s father, and firsthand accounts of the intimidation tactics used by Kelly and his team surrounding victim testimonies, including setting fire to a Jane Doe’s car with intent to intimidate.
The documentary will also shed light on Kelly’s lesser known victims, including a John Doe, and his relationship with late R&B singer Aaliyah, 12 years his junior. Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter is executive produced by Joel Karsberg, Tamra Simmons, Jesse Daniels, Maria Pepin and Brie Miranda Bryant, and contains over 60 voices and testimonials, including victims, their families, Kelly’s supporters, reporters who attended the trial, among others.
The docuseries trailer shows the chaos that erupted for five weeks outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, including supporters with microphones yelling “Justice for R. Kelly” day after day, a supporter with Kelly’s name tattooed on her chest, and the influx of press swarming the premises.
During the trial, Kelly’s defense team argued for the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer to receive the minimum sentence of 10 years or less, citing in court documents a “traumatic childhood involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence.”
Prosecutors, however, sought a minimum 25-year term. In the end, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years, unintentionally symbolic of the 30 years of abuse he inflicted on countless victims, known and unknown.
Watch the trailer for Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter below.
A new R. Kelly album titled I Admit It was uploaded to streaming services Friday (Dec. 9), but it didn’t come from Kelly’s team or his label.
While the release credits Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings as the label, a rep for Legacy Recordings said the company was not involved in the project. Furthermore, sources at Legacy say the album came as a total surprise and they are inquiring with streamers such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music about how the album was delivered to them.
The album was uploaded by Universal Music Group-owned distributor Ingrooves, leaving involved parties scrambling to figure out what went wrong. Once Ingrooves executives learned of the release, according to a source familiar with the situation, they set about requesting that streaming services pull the release. By 3 p.m. EST on Friday it was down.
Now, the source says, Ingrooves is in the process of investigating what went wrong internally and is severing a relationship with the label Real Talk Entertainment, which released the album on a sub-label called Legacy Recordings — the same name as Sony’s imprint. Real Talk could not be reached for immediate comment.
In January 2019, Sony and Kelly agreed to part ways days after Lifetime released the Surviving R. Kelly documentary that detailed sexual misconduct allegations against the three-time Grammy-winning singer. Sony still represents Kelly’s catalog of music, however, including his early recordings under Zomba/Jive and then later RCA, both of which are Sony-owned imprints.
The 13-track project arrives as the disgraced R&B singer (real name Robert Sylvester Kelly) is serving a 30-year prison sentence after he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York trial last June. In September, during another trial in his hometown of Chicago, Kelly, 55, was convicted of several child pornography charges.
The album’s title track, “I Admit It,” was originally released as a 19-minute track on SoundCloud in 2018. It is now featured as three separate songs, each titled “I Admit It (I Did It),” at the end of the album which addresses the sexual abuse allegations against him over the last few decades and its virulent effects on his career.
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment by the time of publishing. But she told Variety earlier Friday that the singer’s team is not behind the release and that he “is having intellectual property stolen from him.”
The last studio album Kelly released was a holiday album titled 12 Nights of Christmas on Oct. 21, 2016. It’s his final album on RCA Records before the label removed him in the wake of the Surviving R. Kelly doc.
This story is developing.
