R Kelly

R. Kelly, the disgraced R&B star accused of grooming and sexually abusing several young women, is officially on trial in New York City, where he faces the above charges as well as allegations that he kept them under his power through means of a criminal conspiracy. R. Kelly stands accused of numerous criminal acts, among them, bribing government officials, knowingly giving two women a sexually transmitted disease, and psychologically and physically abusing the women under his influence. The trial began today, with both sides delivering their opening statements.

According to the New York Times, the prosecution’s opening speech lasted around one hour, during which assistant US attorney Maria Cruz Melendez outlined the loose criminal organization Kelly allegedly fostered to help him keep these and other women under his thumb. She said that he “used his fame, his popularity and a network of people at his disposal to target, groom and exploit young girls, boys, and women for his own sexual gratification.” Some of those associates have already pled guilty to bribing witnesses on his behalf.

Kelly was said to have not only coerced some of the women to have sex with him but also with other men, often as a punishment for displeasing him, in addition to being isolated, locked alone in rooms for days, and being physically beaten by Kelly. Kelly’s defense denied the charges, attributing the expected testimonies against the singer to the women being fame-hungry.

Meanwhile, Kelly still faces the prospect of another criminal trial in Chicago, where he faces similar charges, including child porn and obstruction of justice charges.

R. Kelly is set to go on trial over pair of cases in the coming months. One is based in Brooklyn, New York, where he faces federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges; the other is based in his hometown of Chicago, where he received charges for child pornography and obstruction of justice. While things are already bad enough for the singer, they may have just gotten worse: Chicago Sun Times shared new court documents that present fresh allegations that Kelly sexually assaulted a minor back in 2006.

The document claims that the singer met the 16-year-old boy at a McDonald’s more than a decade ago. Kelly then invited him to his studio and asked “what he was willing to do to succeed in the music business” and added that he wanted “to engage in sexual contact.” The documents go on to say that the minor introduced Kelly to a male friend of his, who at the time was around the age of 16 or 17. This individual, who was labeled “John Doe #2” in the documents, eventually entered a sexual relationship with Kelly, who “paid John Doe #2 after sexual encounters with him.”

Meanwhile, Kelly’s Brooklyn trial is set to begin on August 18. If he’s convicted he will face up to 70 years in prison.

R. Kelly has spent more than a year in a Chicago jail awaiting his trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges. In addition to that, he’s also waiting on a separate trial for sex trafficking and racketeering charges from a case in Brooklyn, New York. According to AP, it looks like the latter of these two trials will commence this summer as a federal judge gave the green light to have the singer moved to New York in order for it to begin this summer.

The trial for the sex trafficking and racketeering charges was initially supposed to commence in July 2020, but was delayed to April 7, where it was once again pushed back to August 9. During a recent virtual hearing, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly informed lawyers that courthouse protections were in place to ensure that trial would finally begin this summer. While the date for the move is unknown yet, the singer will most likely be moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn later this year.

The singer’s trial will be tried in front of an anonymous jury as Judge Donnelly approved a motion for it at the end of last year. “Empaneling an anonymous jury is appropriate given the seriousness of the charges, the defendant’s history of obstructing the judicial process, the potential for juror intimidation and the intensity of media attention given to this case,” she said. As for Kelly’s child pornography and obstruction trial in Chicago, that is set to begin on September 13.