R Kelly Is Going Back to Jail Again
Vocaliser and songwriter R. Kelly at a court hearing in Chicago in September 2019. Pool/Getty Images hibernate explanation
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Singer and songwriter R. Kelly at a court hearing in Chicago in September 2019.
Pool/Getty Images
Editor'south annotation: This report includes allegations of sexual and physical abuse.
In July 2019, federal prosecutors in both New York and Illinois unsealed indictments against R&B singer and songwriter R. Kelly on a host of charges. They include accusations that the R&B singer and songwriter abused girls and women over some ii decades, that he had made child pornography, and that Kelly and some of his circle made hush-money payments to silence the declared victims. The prosecutors have also charged Kelly with racketeering — edifice a criminal enterprise, they say, whose purpose was to "casualty upon young women and teenagers."
After lengthy delays due to the pandemic, superseding charges issued by both sets of prosecutors and rounds of shuffling on his defense team, Kelly is at last scheduled to stand trial in the Eastern District of New York courthouse in Brooklyn, Due north.Y. beginning Aug. 9 — more than two years after his initial indictments. (The Illinois trial will begin later on the New York trial has concluded.) Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In the meantime, there have been quite a few — and often confusing — developments in the R. Kelly story. Here's a quick catch-up on the well-nigh important elements.
December 2019: A new accuse alleges Kelly and others bribed an Illinois official to brand a faux ID for Aaliyah
On acme of the xviii existing charges in the federal indictments unsealed in July, prosecutors in New York now say that on Aug. thirty, 1994, Kelly and his associates bribed a public officer in Illinois in 1994 to make a fake ID for Aaliyah, a vocaliser and Kelly's teenaged protégé. (Court documents refer to Aaliyah as "Jane Doe #1," but her identity is clear.)
The next solar day, Aaliyah — who was 15 years old at the fourth dimension, compared to Kelly's 27 — wedded him in a short-lived spousal relationship.
Public allegations of Kelly and Aaliyah's union are not new. In Dec. 1994, Vibe printed a copy of the marriage document, which listed Aaliyah'due south historic period every bit eighteen, in a piece that included rumors that Aaliyah was pregnant. Then in 2000, journalists Jim DeRogatis and Abdon Pallasch, and so of the Chicago Sun-Times, reported on the marriage in a larger, bombshell investigative story, having establish court documents that showed Aaliyah admitted lying about her historic period.
However, the criminal charge that Kelly, "together with others," bribed a public official is new.
February 2020: Federal prosecutors in Illinois file new charges against Kelly and two other men
These superseding charges include sexually abusing and/or making child pornography with five girls, who all were betwixt the ages of 12 and 16 when they start met Kelly.
This indictment also includes accusations that Kelly, his business organization manager Derrel McDavid and some other acquaintance, Milton "June" Brown, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to discover and hide videotapes of sexual encounters Kelly had allegedly made with girls and young women. Kelly and McDavid are further defendant of intimidating and paying off victims and witnesses involved in a child pornography trial in Chicago confronting Kelly, in which he was acquitted in 2008.
Kelly now faces 13 federal charges in Illinois.
March 2020: Federal prosecutors in New York file new charges against Kelly
These superseding charges in New York include racketeering and violations of the Isle of man Act, which prohibits sexual trafficking across state lines.
The New York charges at present name half dozen declared victims, including three girls. Co-ordinate to prosecutors, Kelly as well allegedly gave one of the minor girls herpes without disclosing that he had the affliction.
In all, Kelly at present faces 22 federal criminal charges that involve allegedly abusing 11 girls and women over the class of more two decades, betwixt 1994 and 2018.
August 2020: 3 Kelly associates are charged with trying to ransom and intimidate his accusers
Richard Arline Jr., a self-described "friend" of Kelly, onetime publicist Michael Williams, and Donnell Russell, a cocky-described "director, counselor and friend" of Kelly, are charged by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York. Co-ordinate to the prosecutors, Arline tried to bribe 1 of Kelly'southward accusers with a proposed payment of $500,000 in club to proceed her from cooperating with the government and testifying against Kelly at trial.
Russell, prosecutors say, tried to harass and intimidate another Kelly accuser and her mother betwixt Nov 2018 and February 2020, after the woman filed a civil lawsuit confronting the singer. Russell is said to have threatened to release sexually explicit photos of the woman and to reveal elements of her sexual history if she did non withdraw the suit.
Russell allegedly also sent versions of those photos to producers and executives at Lifetime and A&E on Dec. 4, 2018 — the day Lifetime planned to agree an advance screening of office of its Surviving R. Kelly docuseries.
Williams was charged with setting fire to an SUV parked outside of a Florida residence where one of Kelly's accusers was staying, and which was leased to the woman'south father. According to prosecutors, investigators also found an accelerant effectually the residence. Additionally, prosecutors say, Williams searched the Internet for information nearly the flammability of fertilizer and diesel, materials most witness intimidation and tampering and data virtually countries that practice not take extradition treaties with the U.S.
Williams pleaded guilty to arson in April 2021, and awaits sentencing this October. Arline'due south and Russell'due south cases are ongoing.
August 2020: Donnell Russell charged with gun threat to 'Surviving R. Kelly' screening
Russell is hit with another indictment, this time by federal prosecutors in the Southern Commune of New York, who accuse him of being the person who called in a gun threat to that aforementioned advance screening of Surviving R. Kelly.
Scheduled to attend that screening were four women who have publicly accused R. Kelly of sexual set on and misconduct — Kitti Jones, Jerhonda Pace, Lisa Van Allen and Asante McGee — as well every bit #MeToo founder and activist Tarana Shush. The screening was canceled, and the theater was evacuated.
Co-ordinate to prosecutors, Russell likewise sent the screening venue a purported "cease and desist" letter, and chosen both the New York Constabulary Department and the New York Metropolis Fire Department in attempts to disrupt the screening. He allegedly finally contacted the venue by telephone and told an employee that there was a person in the room with a gun who was prepared to first shooting.
Russell's example in the Southern District is ongoing.
July 2021: New York prosecutors inquire for more evidence to be admitted
Federal prosecutors in the New York trial say they take bear witness of more than declared crimes committed by Kelly, for which he has not been charged—and they want the jury to run across this prove.
The allegations in this filing include sexual and physical abuse of teenage girls and women dating equally far back as 1991, sexual corruption of a 17-year-old boy, hush payments and blackmail. The prosecutors' filing includes diverse allegations of sexual abuse, physical corruption, psychological abuse, bribery and threats confronting twenty Jane Does and the teenaged John Doe.
Jury selection in Kelly'southward New York trial is slated to begin on Aug. ix, and testimony is scheduled to commence Aug. 18. Judge Ann M. Donnelly has ordered that the jurors will be anonymous and partially sequestered, due to overwhelming media attending and because prosecutors accept accused Kelly of trying to silence alleged victims and witnesses through bribes, blackmail, threats and intimidation.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1022231076/r-kelly-abuse-charges-trial-aaliyah-timeline
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