UPDATED 7/9, 11:30 a.m. ET: R. Kelly was denied bail on Thursday in Brooklyn by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly, but his trial’s opening statements did end up getting pushed back to Aug. 18. The jury selection will still take place as intended on Aug. 9, which is when opening statements were also set to occur.
The bail request centered around Kelly’s legal team—a new crew brought on board last month—seeking more access to the singer to help mount his defense. “You’re going to have full access to Mr. Kelly,” Judge Donnelly said, noting they can see him in jail any day of the week.
The New York Daily News notes that Kelly’s lawyers “have been in a pitched battle, hurling allegations of misconduct and incompetence at each other for weeks,” including lawyer Thomas Farinella’s claim that Kelly “has not seen a single document in this case.”
The judge was not impressed on Thursday. “Are you seriously asserting what you say in your letter, that your co-counsel actively kept discovery material from Mr. Kelly?” she said. “I want to make sure I understand. … This is so unseemly. I’m not here to mediate issues between lawyers. … I’ve frankly had enough of it. I don’t want to be in the middle of this. It’s not appropriate.”
Law and Crime writes that Donnelly “added that she’d ‘never had a situation’ where co-counsel has behaved like Kelly’s attorneys in her courtroom before.”
UPDATED 7/6, 7:24 p.m. ET: Acting United States Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis has responded to R. Kelly’s request to postpone his trial and is arguing for it to be denied.
The prosecution is arguing that Kelly be considered a flight risk due to “his access to financial resources” and that he has been accused of committing crimes while he was previously out on bail.
“The government respectfully writes in opposition to (1) the defendant Robert Kelly’s motion for temporary release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3142(i); and (2) the defendant’s motion for an adjournment of trial (ECF Dkt. Nos. 116, 119),” reads the letter, which is addressed to Judge Ann M. Donnelly and viewed by Complex.
“The defendant cites two bases for his motion for temporary release: the need to prepare for trial and the risk of becoming seriously ill should he contract COVID-19. As set forth below, neither serves as a basis for temporary relief and the motion should be denied. With respect to his motion for an unspecified adjournment of trial, the defendant relies on his recent retention of Devereaux L. Cannick, Esq., as one of his attorneys in this matter and Mr. Cannick’s need for additional time to review discovery with the defendant and prepare for trial. Because at least one of the defendant’s attorneys has represented the defendant in this matter for almost two years, the government respectfully submits that an adjournment is not warranted and the motion should be denied.”
See original story below.
Kelly’s legal team wants a judge to delay the disgraced singer’s sex trafficking trial, which is currently set to begin in August.
As the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, lawyer Deveraux Cannick sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly arguing that the singer’s required jail quarantine—which ends on Tuesday—has prevented them from being able to prepare for trial. Late last month, Kelly was moved from a facility in Chicago to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Cannick has argued that his client is “anxious” to have his day in court but not “at the expense of his Sixth Amendment rights.” He’s also argued that—after the mandatory quarantine ends—Kelly and his legal team will be forced to conduct business using one of a limited amount of jail conference rooms. If no such space is available when needed, Cannick said, they’ll be required to hold meetings near other inmates and attorneys.
At the time of this writing, prosecutors had not responded to Cannick’s letter. Donnelly had also not ruled on the request.
In April, Donnelly gave the go-ahead to have Kelly transported to New York City for the trial. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Kelly was being held on similar charges prior to the New York move and—as of last December—was expected to go to trial for those allegations this September. And in June, two lead attorneys who had been working with Kelly requested to withdraw from the singer’s federal case in Brooklyn.
While Kelly has been accused of sexual abuse since the 1990s, including allegations involving underage girls, the public interest in allegations was boosted in 2019 thanks to the release of the Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly.
Kelly has denied the allegations. Meanwhile, a Kelly associate pleaded guilty to bribing a witness not to testify in February of this year. Another Kelly associate pleaded guilty on a count of arson in April in connection with destroying an SUV that was rented by the father of one of his accusers.
