The new lawyer representing R. Kelly is attempting to appeal his sex trafficking conviction ahead of his sentencing date in May. Per Business Insider, attorney Jennifer Bonjean filed a request to toss out Kelly’s new conviction in order to have a new trial. Bonjean argued that there were several discrepancies in the case, including the video evidence that she says painted Kelly as a “sexual deviant.”
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In a legal memorandum that she filed on Wednesday, Bonjean said Kelly was left to combat “uncharged claims of abusive and sexual behavior” that were “lawful albeit unpalatable for some.” She added that it prevented Kelly from having a fair trial under the presumption of innocence.
Bonjean, who previously got Bill Cosby’s conviction overturned, had previously told the judge on the case that the internal disputes among Kelly’s legal team in his Brooklyn trial left him without a solid defense. She explained that there were several pieces of evidence submitted to the court that should’ve been dismissed, specifically the videos of “graphic sex,” which she argued prejudiced the jury.
“Even if the evidence had some relevant purpose, the evidence was cumulative and unduly prejudicial,” she wrote. “The jury was inundated with one jarring story after the next of unconventional graphic sex acts, including sexual conduct that many, perhaps most, would consider deviant (e.g., group sex, elements of BDSM, and coprophilia).”
Bonjean specifically took aim at the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries that debuted in early 2019, claiming that many of the jurors had already watched the documentary prior to the trial.
“Defendant’s trial was little more than a re-enactment of the one-sided docuseries ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ which several of the jurors had viewed before stepping into the courtroom,” she wrote. “It is a wonder that the government did not simply offer the docuseries into evidence.”
We’ll keep you posted on any more information surrounding Kelly’s case.