R.Kelly Wants Court To Reverse His Sex Crimes Case In New York – Says Jurors Prejudged Him & Underage Girls Were 18 When They Had Sex
R. Kelly Appeals Federal Sex Crimes Case In New York
It looks like R. Kelly wants a judge to grant him an appeal.
According to reports, R. Kelly has filed an appeal in his federal sex crimes case in New York and it appears the singer has a list of reasons why his conviction should be reversed.
According to TMZ, R. Kelly says he got a bad deal throughout the trial. His legal team has argued that the government did not meet its burden of proof in court despite a jury convicting him on all counts. They have specific complaints about the jury and some of the evidence prosecutors were allowed to submit during the trial.
As for the jury, his attorneys say that at least four of the jurors selected have since admitted that they prejudged his guilt before handing over their official verdict. They also claim two of the jurors had watched the “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries, and should have never been seated on the jury.
When it comes to the underage girls he allegedly groomed and molested, R. Kelly claims they were at least 18- years-old when they met and engaged in sexual relationships despite prosecutors stating the alleged grooming started while they were still minors. His team believe that in the cases where the girls were in fact minors, the singer was misled to believe that they were older.
His legal team claims that when it comes to evidence, there were a lot of things that was allowed in during the trial that shouldn’t have been seen or heard by the jury, which hurt his ability to have a fair trial. For example, he says details about his sex life and/or conduct and behavior with former partners were not relevant to the crimes being alleged against him, and were simply a way for prosecutors to sway the jury.
R. Kelly is pleading with the appeals court to reverse his convictions or, at a minimum, order a new trial.
You may recall that R. Kelly – born Robert Sylvester Kelly – was sentenced to 30 years in prison after a Brooklyn, New York jury found him guilty on all counts of racketeering and sex trafficking on June 29, 2022. The Grammy-Award-winning singer was also sentenced to 20 years in prison in a Chicago federal courtroom on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor.
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