R. Kelly’s federal trial will commence on August 1, a judge has confirmed, despite requests from his legal team for a three-month extension. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Step In The Name Of Love singer’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, filed the motion on Monday, hoping that the additional time will help her prepare for the case, considering she was hired relatively late to vindicate her client.
Jennifer further stressed that with the complexity of the charges R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is facing, the three-month extension would also allow his legal team to prepare for the enormous amount of evidence that has been turned over, including the purported sex tapes involving minors. She hoped to lengthen the trial date so that she would have enough time to explore all avenues of defense and offer R. Kelly a fair proceeding.
Unfortunately for her, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber denied her request on Tuesday, making it known that the case is three years underway and has already faced endless delays, many of which were brought on by the pandemic. And since the court is still following strict Covid-19 protocols, issuing an extension would complicate the procedure that’s already put in place for the trial at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on August 1. R. Kelly is facing a heap of charges after being indicted in Chicago in July 2019 and found guilty in September 2021 of leading a sex trafficking and racketeering scheme predominately involving children and Black women.
R. Kelly Is Facing Life In Prison
During his previous trial last year, 50 witnesses had spoken out against the Happy People chart-topper over the course of the six-week trial. Interestingly enough, R. Kelly opted not to take the stand and testify in his own defense as prosecutors presented evidence, claiming he had abused at least 22 victims, though the charges in the indictment were only focused on six of those victims.
U.S. attorney, per CNN, said during the closing arguments that R. Kelly had successfully “targeted, groomed and exploited girls, boys and women” before a unanimous verdict was reached. He could be looking at a life-long prison sentence once his upcoming trial concludes, and with his attorney’s motion to extend the proceeding by three months, it would seem as if things are not looking too good for the father-of-three.
RELATED: R. Kelly Reportedly Slammed His Former Legal Team For Selecting Jurors Who Saw “Surviving R. Kelly”
In March 2019, R. Kelly took part in an infamous interview with CBS’ Gayle King, where he claimed he was innocent of the accusations made against him, including 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. Speaking of his accusers, he said, “All of them [are lying]. That little girls trapped in the basement, helicopters over my house, handcuffing, starving people, I have a harem or cult. I don’t really know what a cult is but I know I don’t have one.”
“If you look at that documentary, everybody said something bad about me. They was describing Lucifer, I’m a man and make mistakes but I’m not the devil or a monster.”