R. Kelly‘s lawyers will have a tough fight to keep him out of jail when he goes to trial next year. The singer’s alleged sex tape with a minor from two decades is now in the hands of his defense attorneys.
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According to CNN.com, Judge Lawrence Flood put a protective order on the tape being leaked, saying, “If there’s any violation of this protective order, I’m going to impose sanctions, severe sanctions. I just want everybody on notice with that. Plus, there could be criminal implications to violation of this protective order.”
His lawyer Steve Greenberg told reporters, “We’ll see what it shows, we’ll make our assessment on it.”
In May, a grand jury indicted Kelly with 11 more charges pertaining, “Those charges included not only aggravated criminal sexual abuse but also more serious charges: aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony; and criminal sexual assault, a Class 1 felony.”
In addition, police charged the singer in February with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, after which he was arrested at least twice more on related charges.
Kelly was arrested Feb. 23 after surrendering to Chicago police following his indictment on the same day for 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. After spending the weekend in jail because he arguably had trouble paying the $100,000 for bail, a woman friend of his posted his bond.
Kelly was taken into custody again for failing to pay more than $160,000 in child support but was released a few days later after someone else paid his bond.
One major legal problem that Kelly faces is that Illinois has no statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors. In 2017, Illinois enacted legislation that ended a requirement for child sex abuse victims to file a report within 20 years of turning 18 years old.
“The new charges resulted from an offense that allegedly took place in 2010,” USA Today reported. “Because few details were made available, it’s not clear whether the victim from that case is new or one of the women from the 10 counts filed against him in February.”
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