R. Kelly Says Feds Are Trying To Deny Him A Fair Trial In Child Porn Case

Source: Pool / Getty

R. Kelly claims that he won’t be able to get a fair trial if a judge keeps the identities of potential jurors in his upcoming child pornography case a secret.

The feds want to keep potential jurors in Kelly’s upcoming trial out of the public eye over fears that the singer or his associates may try to intimidate them. The government said that the “I Believe I Can Fly” artist has a history of harassing people who have the power to influence his court decisions – and have previously accused him of bribing the family of a girl he was accused of abusing on tape for 15 years.

But Kelly said that the government has failed to show any evidence that he or his staff have interfered with witnesses in his previous cases, and he believes that shielding potential jurors’ identities will put him at a major disadvantage as he heads to trial, his lawyer’s letter to the judge states.

If the judge won’t publicly ID potential jurors, he at least wants that info passed on to his lawyers, so that his legal team can figure out if they would be biased against the disgraced singer, according to court papers obtained by BOSSIP. Kelly’s lawyers said they could investigate whether the potential juror had, for example, posted about Kelly on social media.

Kelly, who has been locked up for a year on these charges as well as a simultaneous racketeering and kidnapping case in New York City, is expected to head to trial in October 2020.

In this case, the feds said for more than 25 years, Kelly and his codefendants Derrell McDavid and Milton Brown conspired to produce child pornography involving Kelly abusing young girls and then tried to hide their crimes, according to their indictment.

A judge hasn’t yet ruled on the motion.