R. Kelly’s court saga continues. The 56-year-old is appealing his sex crimes conviction in New York for a myriad of reasons.
TMZ obtained legal documents pertaining to the Tuesday (April 18) appeal, which states that his team believes the government did not meet its burden of proof. They revealed that four jurors allegedly admitted to having preconceived notions of his guilt prior to the court proceedings and the subsequent verdict. Also, two of them watched the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries and they believe those two jurors should not have been allowed to take part in the trial.
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When it comes to inappropriate relationships with underage women and child pornography, a large aspect of this case, the Chicago singer believes he has valid justifications for them. Kelly claims that some of the women were 18 years old when he met and had sexual relations with them, which would nullify the prosecutors’ argument that he groomed them as minors. Conversely, he admits that he did have sexual relationships with minors, but was deceived to think that they were of age.
As for the evidence used against him, R. Kelly and his team claim that much of it was irrelevant to the case at hand. He believes details about his sex life or conduct with former partners, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual preferences, and activities in the bedroom were all used to place an idea of him in the jury’s mind.
The “Same Girl” singer was found guilty on nine federal counts, which included RICO charges, sex crimes, and human trafficking back in 2021. His goal with this appeal is to either reverse the convictions or begin an entirely new trial.
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Reporting by Emman Tochi in Lagos, Nigeria.
