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Jazz In the Garden

Source: Glenn Parson / Glenn Parson

R. Kelly isn’t giving up on getting out of jail as he awaits the start of his trials for sex abuse and racketeering.

Despite a federal judge shutting him down three times on his bids to get out of jail, the disgraced singer filed court papers on June 1 indicating he planned to take another crack at freedom.

Kelly’s lawyers filed court papers saying they intended to appeal Judge Ann Donnelly’s rulings to keep Kelly behind bars until his cases head to trial later this year.

Kelly argued that he should be freed pending trial because he was at higher risk of coronavirus complications, was incarcerated in a jail with questionable medical care and poor hygiene that had become a hotbed of coronavirus infections.

But Judge Donnelly sided with federal prosecutors who contended that Kelly being overweight and prediabetic didn’t mean he was more at risk of COVID-19, and believed that if let out, he had the means to harass witnesses and skip town.

R. Kelly Mugshot

Source: Cook County Department of Corrections / Cook County Department of Corrections

The judge also said that Kelly hadn’t proven that he wouldn’t try to intimidate or bribe witnesses in the case, something the feds say he did to ensure his acquittal in his first child porn trial back in 2008.

The feds haven’t responded to Kelly’s notice of appeal.

Kelly has been behind bars for almost a year on two simultaneous federal cases. One, out of Illinois, accuses Kelly of making and then destroying child pornography. Another, out of New York, alleges Kelly headed a criminal network that funneled young girls to him to be sexually exploited. He had pled not guilty to the charges and the trials are set to begin later this year.

Kelly’s lawyer Steve Greenberg told BOSSIP last month that Kelly would likely appeal Judge Donnelly’s decision.

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