R. KELLY IS PLACED ON SUICIDE WATCH AFTER BEING CONVICTED OF SEX TRAFFICKING IN NEW YORK

R&B singer R Kelly was on suicide watch after being convicted of sex trafficking charges in New York, his lawyer told a federal judge in Chicago on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber appeared to have wanted the trial in Chicago to begin earlier, but he set it for August 1, 2022, after one of Kelly's attorneys, Steven Greenberg, said that he and another of Kelly's attorneys will be in trial on other cases through July.

Greenberg added that Kelly is weighing whether to revamp his legal team in the New York case — which underwent a dramatic shake-up in the weeks leading up to trial — and that his client was placed on suicide watch. However, that has now ended.

'I think he's talking about bringing in new lawyers in New York,' Greenberg told U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber.

In the first court hearing since a jury found Kelly guilty three weeks ago, attorneys told the judge they estimated their Kelly's case, along with those of co-defendants Derrell McDavid and Milton 'June' Brown, would last three to four weeks.

Kelly, who remains jailed in New York, was listening to the hearing on a conference call but he did not speak. His sentencing there is scheduled for May 4 and he faces up to life in prison.

Kelly, 54, who was born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is also facing four separate charges alleging sexual abuse in state court in Chicago and a child prostitution charge in Minnesota.

Experts have said there is a possibility that prosecutors could drop the charges in state court if he receives a lengthy prison sentence in New York.

But there is virtually no chance that the federal charges in Chicago will be dropped.

Kelly, who has been jailed without bail since 2019, was convicted last month by a federal jury in New York on racketeering conspiracy charges and other counts.

A jury found him guilty of 12 individual illegal acts, including sex with underage girls as well as a 1994 scheme to bribe an Illinois public aid official to obtain a fake ID for 15-year-old singer Aaliyah so the two could get illegally married. Kelly was 24 at the time.

He faces anywhere from ten to 100 years in prison - a maximum amount of 20 years for racketeering, 10 for each of the sex trafficking convictions.

Sentencing is expected to take place on May 4, 2022. Kelly has remained in custody after being denied bail in his New York City case in October 2019.

Kelly’s legal team have said it would make little sense to start trial in Chicago without knowing what Kelly’s sentence will be in New York.

If Kelly's federal case goes to trial in Chicago next summer, then graphic sextapes that Kate allegedly made, which involve him having sex with at least three underage girls, would likely be the main talking point.

Filed in July 2019, the 13-count indictment claims that both the R&B singer and his associates paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gifts and legal settlements to try to buy copies of the sex tapes before they would eventually end in the hands of investigators.

One of the graphic tapes, which allegedly shows Kelly having sex with his 14-year-old goddaughter, was the focus of child pornography charges against Kelly twenty years ago. However, the girl at the time refused to testify, leading to Kelly's unexepected acquittal by a Cook County jury in 2008.

The girl, who is identified as Minor 1 in the charges, is now collaborating with federal investigators and is expected to be one of the key witnesses to testify against Kelly should his case in Chicago go to trial.
She is also an alleged victims in one of the four pending sexual abuse allegations that were filed against Kelly in Cook County in February 2019.

According to the federal indictment, Kelly and his associates ran a scheme to hide the abuse of Minor 1 for a year, which included flying the girl's parents out of the country to keep authorities from interviewing them.

Their are also records of Kelly making payments to the young girl's family to get them to lie about the abuse to a grand jury.

The payments, gifts and other monetary contributions went on even well after Kelly’s 2008 acquittal, according to the indictment.

As recently as October 2015, Kelly was still paying Minor 1 through his businesses to keep her silence, often using the word 'SETTLEMENT' in the description box of the transactions, according to the indictment.

The R&B singer faces up to 100 years in prison - 20 years for racketeering, 10 for each of the sex trafficking convictions. Sentencing is expected to take place on May 4, 2022. Kelly has remained in custody after being denied bail in his New York City case in October 2019.

The heaviest charge in the indictment, producing child pornography, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 20 years behind bars.
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