Chicago - Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday they intend to
take embattled R&B singer R. Kelly to trial first on their only
indictment involving an accuser who was an adult at the time of the
alleged attack.
The decision comes as a bit of a surprise since the other three Cook
County indictments facing Kelly involve women who were underage at
the time. One of those cases involves four counts of aggravated
criminal sexual assault, a more serious charge than the aggravated
criminal sexual abuse counts he otherwise faces.
Kelly did not appear at the brief hearing Wednesday at the Leighton
Criminal Court Building due to a medical issue, his attorney, Steven
Greenberg, said in court. He is being held without bond in a federal
jail in downtown Chicago.
Prosecutors said they would go to trial first on a charge alleging
Kelly tried to force oral sex on a woman identified in court
documents only as L.C., his 24-year-old hairdresser, on Chicago's
Near North Side in 2003. He is charged with a single count of
aggravated criminal sexual abuse in that case.
Lanita Carter has since come forward publicly, saying she went to
braid Kelly's hair on Chicago's Near North Side in 2003 but that he
greeted her with his pants down. When she resisted, Kelly ejaculated
on her and spit in her face several times, prosecutors have alleged.
In setting the first of potentially four trials for September 14,
Judge Lawrence Flood had asked prosecutors last month to reveal at
Wednesday's hearing which indictment they would proceed on first.
Carter recently appeared in the Lifetime documentary series,
"Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning," recounting her
accusations in emotional and vivid terms.
She said she had enjoyed a close, platonic relationship with Kelly,
saying he was supportive and protective of her, until he surprised
her at the 2003 appointment.
Carter said in the series that she reported the attack to police and
ultimately appeared before a Cook County grand jury. She said grand
jurors disbelieved her story and that charges were rejected.
Carter came forward again after Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx
made an unusual public plea in early 2019 for Kelly's accusers to
reach out and cooperate with investigators.
Kelly faces a combined 20 counts in the four county indictments. The
most serious charges involve four counts of aggravated criminal
sexual assault that allege he had multiple encounters with J.P. in
2009 and 2010 when she was just 16.
The alleged victim, Jerhonda Pace, has gone public with her
allegations against Kelly, describing herself as a "superfan" who met
him during his child pornography trial in 2008.
The singer, 53, whose legal name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, also
faces separate indictments in Cook County that charge he sexually
abused three other women - two of whom were also underage at the
time.
Prosecutors allege that Kelly met one underage victim, identified
only as H.W. in the indictment, as she celebrated her 16th birthday
at a restaurant. He had repeated sexual contact with her over the
next year, according to the charges.
Prosecutors have revealed they also have a video recording of Kelly
having sex with a 14-year-old girl, identified as R.L., on one
occasion sometime between late September 1998 and late September
2001.
Kelly also faces separate trials in the spring on two sweeping
federal indictments, one in Chicago and the other in New York.
The 13-count indictment in Chicago charged Kelly with conspiring with
two former employees to rig his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook
County by paying off witnesses and victims to change their stories.
He was acquitted of all charges at that trial.
In New York, Kelly alone was indicted on a charge of racketeering
conspiracy, alleging he identified underage girls attending his
concerts and groomed them for later sexual abuse.
Kelly also faces prostitution charges in Minnesota alleging he
solicited a teenage girl nearly 20 years ago.
If convicted in all jurisdictions, Kelly could face the rest of his
life in prison.
Kelly has denied any misconduct.
Early last November, attorney Jeffrey Steinback, who is known for
negotiating complex guilty pleas, signed on to represent Kelly on his
federal charges in Chicago, raising speculation that Kelly might try
to work out a deal with prosecutors on all the pending charges.
But Greenberg, Kelly's lead attorney, has denied that any plea
negotiations were in the works.