R. Kelly's latest federal trial has begun - opening statements expected today
R. Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago has begun. During jury selection, the judge denied a request from Kelly’s attorney to exclude any potential jurors who have seen Surviving R. Kelly. https://t.co/1dV5TXh4s8
- Pitchfork (@pitchfork) August 16, 2022
I know it's hard to keep track of all R. Kelly's different charges and court cases so here's info about the current trial.
This is his second federal case, which was filed in July 2019 and is being tried in Illinois. There are multiple cases because he's been charged with similar crimes in separate cases in two federal courts (New York and Illinois) and in two state courts (Illinois and Minnesota). Opening statements are expected to begin today.
Jury selection
* Jury selection began on Monday. Over 100 people were interviewed over two days. The jury consists of four white women, four Black women, two white men, and two Black men. There are six alternates (five women and one man). Among those dismissed was a woman who said she had unfavorable views of police and judges and a man who said he didn’t think the IRS should exist.
* His attorney filed a motion requesting that any prospective juror who has seen "Surviving R. Kelly" be excluded. The judge denied this request and said that any potential jurors who had seen the Netflix documentary would still be considered if they assured him they could remain impartial.
* The jury for this trial will be confidential, meaning only the judge, lawyers and defendants will know the names and background of the jurors. In the New York trial, the jury was anonymous, meaning no one knew anything about the jurors. The Assistant U.S. Attorney said this was necessary to protect the jurors from being contacted by the media or the public for the purposes of influencing a verdict. The defense laywers argued against a confidential jury in Chicago, saying the government has presented no evidence to suggest the jury will be harassed during the trial.
* Kelly's lawyer accused prosecutors of seeking to strike Black people from the jury “to deny Mr. Kelly a jury of his peers.” The prosecution pointed out that there were already some Black jurors who had been selected at this point. The judge sided with the defense and disallowed prosecutors from striking three Black people from the jury.
The charges
R. Kelly and his two alleged co-conspirators (his 1991-2014 manager Derrel McDavid and his 1997-2018 personal assistant Milton "June" Brown) have been charged with the following:
* four counts of production of child pornography for four videos filmed with "Minor 1" between 1998 and 1999
* one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for various illegal acts from 2001 until 2015 to cover up offenses in the 2002 Cook County case
* receipt of child pornography
* conspiracies to obtain videos of child sexual abuse to conceal them
* five counts of child sex trafficking through coercion and enticement of five unnamed victims (listed as Minors 1, 3, 4, 5, 6), for sex acts committed in the time span of 1996 through 2001
* obstruction of justice - this charge goes back to the 2008 case where he was found not guilty of 14 counts of child pornography. The three defendants are accused of bribing and threatening witnesses.
Other info about this trial
* Like the New York federal trial, there will be no cameras allowed in the courtroom. Reporters will be restricted to paper and pen only.
* During pretrial motions, Kelly's legal team wanted to keep out testimony about Kelly's 1994 marriage to an underage Aaliyah. They also wanted to keep out testimony by Kelly accusers who claim they were impregnated by Kelly and that he arranged for them to have abortions. The judge ruled these motions and others were moot because the government did not intend to introduce such testimony at this trial.
Pending trials
There are still two state court cases pending against him in Illinois and Minnesota.
In February 2019, Cook County prosecutors originally filed 10 charges of aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims (three of whom were minors). In May 2019, they filed an additional 11 more felony charges of sexual assault and sexual abuse against him.
In August 2019, Hennepin County filed charges for two criminal offenses surrounding prostitution and solicitation. According to the charges, at a 2001 promotional appearance in Minneapolis, a teenage girl asked for his autograph. He included his phone number with his signature. When she called him, he had her to come his hotel room. When she arrived, he offered her $200 to dance naked. He then took off his clothes and had sexual contact with her.
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