R. Kelly’s New York trial date pushed back again to August
The singer is currently awaiting trial in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center
R. Kelly’s sex crimes case out of Brooklyn has reportedly been delayed again, and this time by four months.
On Tuesday, a federal judge pushed back the April 7 start date to Aug. 9. The trial has been delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Judge Ann Donnelly noted her concern about moving the singer from jail in Chicago to jail in Brooklyn, where there is reportedly a surge in coronavirus cases.
Read More: Azriel Clary says she receives R. Kelly backlash from Black community
As theGRIO previously reported, Kelly is accused of running a racketeering scheme and trafficking young women in New York. He is currently awaiting trial in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. After the coronavirus pandemic hit America, he asked a judge for bail in April in fear of contracting the virus. Judge Donnelly denied the request last spring, concluding that she had “no compelling reasons” to release Kelly and that he was still a flight risk, according to USA Today.
Dozens of witnesses are expected to testify at Kelly’s Brooklyn trial that he had sexual relations with girls under the age of 18 and made child pornography.
In recent months, three of the singer’s associates were charged with threatening, harassing and trying to bribe several of Kelly’s alleged victims.
According to a complaint filed by U.S. attorneys, Richard Arline Jr., Donnell Russell and Michael Williams were charged in August for “re-victimizing his accusers.”
Arline is said to be a longtime friend of Kelly who offered one accuser $500,000 to keep quiet about her experience with the hitmaker. Russell, a former manager and adviser to the artist, released sexually explicit photos of a victim after she filed a lawsuit against R. Kelly. He reportedly published the images on a Facebook page and shared them during a YouTube live vlog in January 2020, theGRIO previously reported.
Russell is also said to have phoned in a gun threat to a December 2018 screening of the Surviving R. Kelly Lifetime documentary in New York City.
Read More: Azriel Clary says she receives R. Kelly backlash from Black community
Defense attorney Steve Greenberg said on Twitter that R. Kelly had “no involvement whatsoever” in a plot to silence victims.
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