R. Kelly bail set at $1 million for sex abuse charges originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A Chicago judge ordered $1 million bond for R. Kelly on Saturday after the singer was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse.
Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. also ordered Kelly to turn in his passport and forbade contact with the singer's alleged victims. Kelly was indicted on Friday for a decade of sexual assault and abuse against four victims, three of whom were under the age of 17. Bail was set for $250,000 for each case.
Kelly did not react during the hearing. He sat with a straight look on his face, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with his hands crossed behind his back throughout the hearing. Kelly only spoke with his lawyer while Lyke reviewed the charges, calling the prosecutors' claims “disturbing.”
Steve Greenberg, Kelly's criminal lawyer, told the judge his client wasn’t a flight risk because “contrary to the song ['I Believe I Can Fly'], he doesn’t like to fly” Greenberg added: “He can’t go anywhere anyways. He’s a recognizable person.”
Kelly’s “finances are a mess,” citing a child support judgement and no ability to generate residuals, said Greenberg. He's expected back in court on Feb. 25.
The 52-year old embattled star, whose given name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, had turned himself into Chicago police late Friday. A booking photo showed Kelly in a black hooded sweatshirt sporting a salt-and-pepper beard.
Kelly's supporters Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, who are living with the singer, attended the hearing. Parents of both women, claimed in the Lifetime series "Surviving R. Kelly,” that Kelly is holding their daughters against the women's will. The three-part documentary chronicled decades of troubling allegations and brought renewed media attention and scrutiny on the singer.
The women initially sat one row in front of Azriel’s father, Angelo Clary, who tried to speak with them. They both ignored him, never acknowledging him or even turning around. Then they changed seats, moving one row ahead to avoid him. Avenatti, who said he has six clients related to Kelly, comforted Azriel’s mother after they were rejected by their daughter.
Several other people — men and women — stood in the last two rows in support of Kelly.
Jerhonda Pace — one of Kelly's accusers — was also in attendance.
The alleged criminal behavior dates back to May 1998 and continued until January 2010, said Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly M. Foxx announced at a press conference on Friday. The indictment details accounts of vaginal and oral penetration of and ejaculation onto the victims by the singer.
"Aggravated criminal sexual abuse is a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of 3-7 years and is probationable," Foxx's office wrote in a statement.
Michael Avenatti, who said he is representing six people related to the case, left the courthouse in a black SUV seeming optimistic that Kelly will "spend the rest of his life" in prison.
"With a conviction in this case, he is never going to walk free another day of his life especially with a mandatory minimum sentence," said Avenatti.
Late Friday, Kelly's lawyer called the accusers liars.
"I think all the women are lying," Greenberg told reporters at a press conference. "This has become, 'Hey, R. Kelly -- I can say R. Kelly did something' -- boom."
Greenberg also said that in indicting Kelly, Foxx caved into public pressure.
"I had a discussion with the state's attorney’s office earlier this week [and] we were supposed to meet next week and have a discussion about what they had," he said. "I was gonna be allowed to address what they had, then they just decided to indict him today for whatever reason. I suspect this is succumbing to public pressure."
Greenberg also claimed one of the victims is the same person in a 2003 child pornography case in which Kelly was acquitted in 2008.
"One of the cases seems to be a rehash he was acquitted for. Double jeopardy should apply to everyone," Greenberg said.
During the hearing prosecutors told the judge there is no case of double jeopardy involving the victim from Kelly’s previous acquittal because "it is not the same video."
Kelly is also facing at least three different federal investigations including at least one focusing on his alleged relationships with underage girls, who may have been trafficked, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the IRS have opened investigations after “Surviving R. Kelly,” which aired on Lifetime starting Jan. 3.
All three agencies declined to comment.
HSI is looking at potential crimes involving sex trafficking and child exploitation. The investigations were first reported by The New Yorker, by Jim DeRogatis, who has been reporting on R. Kelly for almost 20 years.
(MORE: Legal hurdles would look familiar in any new R. Kelly case)
On Thursday, two more women, Latresa Scaff and Rochelle Washington, said they were victims of R. Kelly. Their attorney, Gloria Allred, said the women spoke with federal prosecutors.
"Yesterday, I indicated that my two clients who held a press conference here in New York would be speaking to law enforcement, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and they did in fact have that interview," Allred told WABC.
In addition, Michael Avenatti, who is representing two alleged victims of Kelly, said he gave Cook County prosecutors a video depicting the singer allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old.
"Earlier this month we uncovered and recovered a video tape of over 40 minutes in length," Avenatti said at a press conference Friday. "We promptly brought it to the attention of Ms. Foxx and others in her office. This tape leaves no question as to whether R. Kelly is guilty of multiple sexual illegal acts against a 14-year-old girl. The tape was shot in the late '90s, approximately 1999, [and] it depicts two separate scenes shot on two separate days within Mr. Kelly's residence at the time."
(MORE: Alleged video surfaces of R. Kelly sexually assaulting underage girl)
"Repeatedly on the video both the victim and Mr. Kelly refer to the victim's age as being 14," Avenatti said. "That occurs in excess of 10 separate times on the video, both the victim and Mr. Kelly can be heard referencing her age."
Greenberg said he hadn't seen the video, but denied the allegation.
"Unfortunately, the state's attorney now succumbed to public pressure, to pressure from grandstanders like Michael Avenatti," Greenberg said.
ABC News' Linsey Davis and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/r-kelly-arrives-chicago-courthouse-bond-hearing-173803507--abc-news-topstories.html
2019-02-23 22:20:00Z
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