R&B superstar R. Kelly is making headlines again as his lawyers push for a new trial, focusing on a key witness who had previously testified against him.
In a motion filed with U.S. District Judge Martha Pacold, Kelly’s defense team claims that federal authorities coerced the witness, referred to as “Jane,” into providing testimony through threats and promises.
The legal team has expressed intentions to call Jane to the witness stand in this new attempt to overturn Kelly’s conviction.
Recent weeks have seen Kelly alleging he is a target of a murder plot orchestrated by prison officials, and his lawyers have even reached out to President Donald Trump for assistance.
Despite these efforts, the 58-year-old singer remains incarcerated in a North Carolina prison, with a scheduled release date set for December 2045.
In light of Kelly’s recent filings, a prosecutor cautioned Judge Pacold to prevent her court from becoming a sensationalized spectacle, likening it to a “grocery store checkout aisle tabloid.”
Furthermore, Judge Pacold denied an initial motion to transfer Kelly to home detention, citing a lack of authority to grant such a request.
Beau Brindley, an attorney representing Kelly, proceeded with filing a new motion on Friday, where he challenged the credibility of Jane’s testimony during Kelly’s 2022 trial.
While a lawyer who previously represented Jane has not responded to requests for comment, the U.S. attorney’s office has opted not to issue any statements regarding the ongoing cases.
Even if Kelly were able to successfully overturn his conviction in Chicago, his freedom wouldn’t be guaranteed. He is currently serving additional time for a racketeering and sex-crime conviction in New York.
During the 2022 trial in Chicago, jurors determined that Kelly had sexually abused Jane when she was a teenager. This abuse was recorded on video after Jane reportedly requested Kelly to be her godfather.
This was not the first instance where Kelly faced accusations concerning Jane. In 2008, he was tried in state court in Cook County after the Chicago Sun-Times obtained a video depicting Kelly’s abusive actions.
Unfortunately for the prosecution, Jane did not testify during that trial, which ultimately led to the jury acquitting Kelly based on her absence.
However, in July 2019, following the release of the Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly,” federal indictments were brought against him. During a subsequent hearing in Chicago, the prosecution revealed that Jane had “gone on record” despite her non-participation in the earlier trial.
In a pivotal moment, Jane took the stand during the 2022 trial, recounting her experiences and confirming that she had endured sexual abuse by Kelly “uncountable … hundreds” of times.
She further corroborated that three videos considered in the trial depicted her being sexually abused at the age of 14, while Kelly was in his 30s.
Yet Brindley, in his recent motion, contended that Jane did not independently come forward to change her story. He noted that she neither participated in “Surviving R. Kelly” nor claimed to be the person in the videotape on her own initiative.
According to Brindley, the tactics employed by prosecutors were instrumental in prompting Jane to alter her narrative, an assertion that reignites debates about the methods of securing testimony in high-profile cases.
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