Lawyers for imprisoned R&B superstar R. Kelly claim they have uncovered evidence of government wrongdoing and that the Chicago-born singer’s life is in danger.
Kelly’s legal team said in a news release Tuesday they will be filing an emergency motion in Chicago federal court documenting their allegations and seeking Kelly’s immediate release from a federal penitentiary in North Carolina, where he’s serving a 30-year sentence for sexual misconduct.
The motion, the lawyers say, will be “backed by concrete evidence and declarations that expose a disturbing pattern of government corruption and criminal misconduct” by federal prosecutors in Chicago and New York as well as officials with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The news release claims the officials unjustly manufacture charges against Kelly and are trying to cover it up.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kelly’s lead attorney, Beau Brindley, and other members of his office plan to hold a news conference outside the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago this afternoon.
Kelly, 58, was convicted in 2022 in Chicago of child pornography for making explicit videos of himself and his then-teenage goddaughter, who testified at trial under the pseudonym Jane. He also was convicted of inappropriate sexual relations with Jane and two other teenage girls, “Pauline” and “Nia.”
The jury acquitted Kelly and two co-defendants on charges they conspired to retrieve incriminating tapes and rig his 2008 trial by pressuring Jane to lie to investigators about their relationship and refuse to testify against him.
Kelly was also found not guilty of filming himself with Jane on a video that jurors never saw. Prosecutors said “Video 4? was not played because Kelly’s team successfully buried it, but defense attorneys questioned whether it existed at all.
Brindley represented Kelly’s former manager, Derrel McDavid, in that case, but has since been hired by Kelly.
Meanwhile, Kelly was also convicted in federal court in New York in 2021 of racketeering conspiracy charges alleging his musical career doubled as a criminal enterprise aimed at satisfying his predatory sexual desires.
He’s serving his time in a medium-security federal prison facility in Butner, North Carolina, and is not eligible for release until the year 2045, records show.
Kelly also has a pending lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons alleging a former employee leaked his jail calls and other information to a video blogger.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
