(Washington) Fallen R&B star R. Kelly, already sentenced to 30 years in prison in June for sex crimes, is appearing again this week on similar charges in a court in his hometown of Chicago, where the selection jurors began Monday.
Posted yesterday at 1:26 p.m.
Robert Sylvester Kelly, 55, was found guilty in New York of having piloted for several decades a “system” of sexual exploitation of young people, including adolescent girls, and sentenced at the end of June to 30 years behind bars.
He is charged in Chicago court with obstruction of justice, production of child pornography and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
He and two former associates are accused of disrupting the course of his 2008 child pornography trial, in which the jury found him not guilty, by both threatening and bribing a victim, who then did not testified, but this time should speak.
The other two defendants are his former manager Derrel McDavid and a former employee Milton “June” Brown. The trial is expected to last about four weeks.
His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, asked that anyone who has seen the documentary series Surviving R. Kellywhich gives the floor to several of its victims, is excluded from the jury, but judge Harry Leinenweber rejected this request.
The conviction of R. Kelly in New York, the first in a trial where the majority of civil parties were black women, was seen as a turning point in the #metoo movement.
The debates had brought to light R. Kelly’s “system” for attracting very young women and raping them, with the complicity of those around him. Many victims had recounted their meeting with their idol during concerts after which they were slipped a small piece of paper with the singer’s contact details.
He is also being sued in two other states.