R. Kelly’s Lawyer Demands Retrial While Claiming Charges Are Unfair

R. Kelly is currently in prison on a separate federal indictment that includes child pornography, sexual exploitation of children and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government. He has been labelled as a predator and even tried to have charges against him dropped.

R. Kelly’s new lawyer is fighting to overturn his sex trafficking conviction ahead of his May sentencing date. Attorney Jennifer Bonjean filed a motion to have Kelly’s latest conviction overturned and a new trial ordered, according to Business Insider. Bonjean said that the case had multiple flaws, including video evidence that showed Kelly as a sexual deviant.

Bonjean said Kelly was left to deal with uncharged charges of abusive and sexual behavior that were lawful albeit distasteful for some, according to a legal memorandum she filed recently. Kelly was denied a fair trial based on the presumption of innocence, according to her.

Bonjean, who had previously succeeded in having Bill Cosby’s conviction reversed, had earlier informed the judge in the case that internal conflicts within Kelly’s legal team had left him without a strong defense in his Brooklyn trial. She claimed that several pieces of evidence presented to the court should have been dismissed, including the graphic sex recordings, which she claimed influenced the jury.

Even if the evidence had some relevant purpose, the evidence was cumulative and unduly prejudicial. The jury was inundated with one jarring story after the next of unconventional graphic sex acts, including sexual conduct that many, perhaps most, would consider deviant (e.g., group sex, elements of BDSM, and coprophilia).

Defendant’s trial was little more than a re-enactment of the one-sided docuseries ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ which several of the jurors had viewed before stepping into the courtroom. It is a wonder that the government did not simply offer the docuseries into evidence.

Bonjean took particular aim at the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, which premiered in early 2019, stating that many of the jurors had seen it before the trial. R. Kelly is likely to be behind bars for a very long time and we wonder if he will be given a maximum life sentence in the end. We’ll keep you updated on any new developments in Kelly’s case.

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