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The attorney who represented embattled R&B singer R. Kelly in his 2008 child pornography case says despite six years of court proceedings that ultimately resulted in his acquittal, he really was guilty.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Ed Genson, a well-known, Chicago criminal defense attorney, says he decided to open up about his experience with Kelly, even though he risks violating attorney-client privilege because he is terminally ill with bile duct cancer. Doctors gave him 90 days to live a year ago, he said.
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“He was guilty as hell!” Genson admits. “I don’t think he’s done anything inappropriate for years. I’ll tell you a secret: I had him go to a doctor to get shots, libido-killing shots. That’s why he didn’t get arrested for anything else.”
Kelly was taken back into custody earlier this week for failing to make child support payments in the amount of nearly $200,000 to his ex-wife, Drea. He had already drawn intense scrutiny after an interview with CBS News’ Gayle King in which he virtually melted down proclaiming his innocence of 10 counts of criminal sexual behavior with minors, with which he is currently charged.
READ MORE: R. Kelly claims to have only $350,000, blames ex-wife for financial turmoil, really?
A separate investigation in Detroit alleges that Kelly had sex with a then-13-year-old girl who contracted a sexually transmitted disease from him.
For his part, in the Sun-Times interview, Genson seems to be unburdening himself of knowledge that he says proves Kelly’s guilt.
“I’ve been a lawyer 54 years,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent criminal cases. I’ve represented entertainers, represented people connected to organized crime, represented professional criminals. I’ve represented guilty people, I represent innocent people.”
“I can say whatever I want, but we’ve got to do it fast,” he said. “It would be nice to get it down so somebody knows besides me.”
Genson calls the interview with King an attempt to influence potential jurors in his criminal case.
“He is,” tampering with the jury, Genson said. “I’m trying to figure out why he did it. I don’t know whether his lawyer is an idiot. He might be.”
But Steven A. Greenberg is Kelly’s current lawyer and he said he’s not trying to taint the jury.
“R. Kelly is a grown man who can respond to these allegations as he sees fit,” said Greenberg. “He didn’t talk about the charges, he didn’t talk about cases, he generalized allegations that he is some kind of monster running a cult. . . . This case is so far off in the future; who knows when a trial is going to be? I don’t think anyone is trying to tamper or influence the jury. This is not something being orchestrated as some kind of defense trick.”
Genson said Kelly is not “very bright” and because he beat his case, it may have empowered him to a fault.
“What he doesn’t understand is this: If you win a case with somebody, they think they’re bulletproof,” Genson said. “You’re almost better off, sort of, losing. He thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants. He has done everything he can to hurt himself.”
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Genson helped Kelly beat his previous criminal case, but he doesn’t believe he’s an enabler.
“I didn’t facilitate him. He had already done what he’d done,” Genson said. “I did facilitate him in the sense I kept him out of trouble for 10 years. I was vetting his records. I listened to them, which ones would make a judge mad.”