Facing potentially decades in prison, R. Kelly 'hopeful' despite jail beating, COVID-19 lockdown

CHICAGO — Beleaguered singer R. Kelly is to go to trial on federal racketeering charges in New York in just four months, but already he’s feeling the squeeze.

Facing the potential of decades in prison, Kelly is back on lockdown at Chicago’s federal jail because of a new COVID-19 outbreak. His repeated attempts to win release on bond pending trial have been denied. And he still suffers headaches and pain from a recent beating at the hands of a fellow inmate, his lawyers say.

“Mentally, he’s probably in as bad of shape as I’ve seen him,” Kelly’s lead attorney, Steven Greenberg, said last week. “His mood at this point is certainly still hopeful about his case, but I think on some level he’s just very beaten down physically and mentally.”

Tuesday will mark Kelly’s 500th day in federal custody — a clock that started ticking when he was arrested by federal authorities on July 11, 2019, while walking his dog outside his home in the Trump Tower in downtown Chicago.

The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn alleged Kelly and his associates ran a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual contact, then isolated and threatened them to keep them under control and prevent them from going to authorities.

A separate indictment brought by federal prosecutors in Chicago alleged the singer conspired with two former employees to rig his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County by paying off witnesses and victims to change their stories.

Kelly, 53, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted in the New York case alone. The Chicago federal charges carry the potential of decades more in prison, and Kelly is also facing criminal sexual abuse charges filed in Cook County in February 2019.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber said he intends to set a trial date for the federal Chicago charges during the next status hearing on Dec. 16.

Meanwhile, after three previous trial dates in New York had to be scuttled because of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly has reset Kelly’s trial for April 6, when potential jurors will be questioned in the courthouse’s large ceremonial courtroom about their answers to questionnaires that will be sent out in March.

Last month, Donnelly dealt a blow to the defense by granting prosecutors’ request to keep jurors anonymous, a move often reserved for gang or terrorism cases.

In her ruling, Donnelly noted Kelly was alleged to have “secured witnesses’ silence, and in at least one instance to have suborned perjury, through bribes, blackmail, threats and intimidation.”

Donnelly also cited allegations that during Kelly’s 2008 trial — which ended in acquittal — Kelly instructed an associate to “make contact” with one of the jurors and tell them that Kelly “was a ‘good guy.’ ”

“In short, empaneling an anonymous jury is appropriate given the seriousness of the charges, the defendant’s history of obstructing the judicial process, the potential for juror intimidation and the intensity of media attention given to this case,” Donnelly wrote in her ruling.

Having a trial date adds urgency to Kelly’s trial preparation, which his lawyers say has been hampered because prosecutors have yet to turn over key evidence identifying alleged victims and witness statements.

Making matters worse, the Metropolitan Correctional Center where Kelly has been housed is back on lockdown with a new COVID-19 outbreak.

In recent weeks, the number of infected inmates has risen from just one to 101 as of Friday — or about 16% of the total population, according to U.S. Bureau of Prisons statistics. In addition, 22 staff members at the MCC are currently positive for the coronavirus.

No deaths among inmates or staff at the MCC have been reported since the pandemic began in March.

Greenberg said it adds up to the “worst possible” scenario for the defense team, which has been unable to meet at length with Kelly to go over any of the tens of thousands of business and travel records and other documents tendered to them so far by prosecutors.

The lockdown means Kelly has had limited access to email. When they can secure an in-person meeting, his attorneys have to endure a lengthy screening process and try to set up in a tiny room with only one small table to lay out documents, Greenberg said. Adding to their woes is that Kelly can’t read or write, he said.

“The logistics of it are impossible,’ Greenberg said. “(Kelly) is illiterate. We need to sit down and go through the evidence page by page with him. And we need hours and hours to do it.”

Greenberg said he also worries about his own health and that of his co-counsel and staff.

“I’m pretty sure prosecutors wouldn’t want to wade into that place day after day,” Greenberg said. “Why should we have to jeopardize our health? If I wanted to be in a dangerous profession I wouldn’t have gone to law school, I would’ve been on ‘The Deadliest Catch.’ ”

Although Kelly has so far managed to avoid contracting the virus, the jail has proven to be a dangerous place for such a high-profile defendant. The beating Kelly suffered at the hands of a fellow inmate three months ago left him with a serious and diagnosed concussion that “he hasn’t recovered from,” Greenberg said.

Court records show the attacker, convicted Latin King gang member Jeremiah Shane Farmer, was able to slip away from an MCC employee on Aug. 26, enter Kelly’s cell and beat him in the head while Kelly was in the lower bunk. The attack stopped only after a jail security officer pepper-sprayed Farmer, an incident report filed in court stated.

Farmer, 39, claimed in court filings he committed the attack “in hopes of getting spotlight attention and world news notice to shed light on” wrongdoing by the government. He also was angered by repeated lockdowns at the jail that he blamed on Kelly’s celebrity status.

Farmer was sentenced in October to life in prison racketeering conspiracy conviction that included his role in the 1999 double-murder of two businessmen in Hammond.

Greenberg and his co-counsel, Michael Leonard, had asked to question Farmer about the attack under oath in an attempt to get Kelly released on bond.

But Leinenweber denied the move, saying “release from custody is not the appropriate remedy for such a wrong.”

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