R. Kelly will be facing federal courtroom in Chicago in seven months, where he will face 13-counts of federal indictments, which allege that he sexually abused minors and conspired to obstruct justice. The performer has pleaded not guilty to these charges, and is currently held in jail without bond while he awaits his federal trial to begin on Monday, April 27, 2020.
This trial could be moved, pending the status of Kelly’s other criminal cases and the status of any pretrial motions that need to be argued before a jury selection. Prosecutors for the case have stated that this massive federal trial can take place for up to three weeks.
Kelly is set to face further charges in a Brooklyn federal court, in Cook County, Illinois, and in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where he faces additional charges of child prostitution. As with the Chicago federal case, the performer has plead not-guilty to all of these charges, although trial dates have not been set for these. The massive amount of charges that Kelly is facing in several jurisdictions has put some pressure on prosecutors, who have expressed concern over a lack of resources to delve into all of the files related to Kelly’s case.
“We have limited resources, and Mr. Kelly has been charged in multiple jurisdictions, which is rather unprecedented,” his lead attorney, Steve Greenberg, told the judge, adding that one disc turned over by New York prosecutors contained a reported “9,000 subfolders.”
The charges related to the Cook County case are tied to one of Kelly’s alleged victims, Jerhonda Pace, who has filed charges for, aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, and aggravated criminal sexual abuse among other charges in relation to this case. Pace has claimed that Kelly’s fans have denounced her as a result of these filings, according to a statement published on social media.
“Yes, I am aware of the 11 new counts against R. Kelly. Yes, all new counts are related to my case,” she wrote on social media. “Yes, I know his fans are mad about it. She continues to say “Please, DO NOT contact me telling me how I’m wrong for pursuing criminal charges all of these years later. Blah! No matter how ‘wrong’ you think I am, the law is on my side, a MINOR at the time. Carry on.”
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