R. Kelly: House arrest failed

Last Thursday, a court in Chicago rejected the urgent application of the convicted R&B star R. Kelly (58) from detention from custody in the house arrest. The 58-year-old musician, who is currently serving a 30-year sentence for severe sexual offenses, had levied serious allegations against prison officials.

R. Kelly is said to have spent two days in a hospital last weekend. Lawyers of the singer claimed that he had taken over the overdose last week, which had been given to him by the prison staff, as reported, among other things, “USA Today”, citing existing court documents. In a statement by Kelly’s lawyer of June 17, a “murder complement” arises against the singer.

Last week, one of R. Kelly’s lawyers had already submitted an urgent request to remedy in prison – on the grounds that the convicted sex offender feared for his life. Kelly should be relocated to the house arrest. According to the application of June 10, three prison officers are said to have given another prisoner to kill the singer.

Judge Martha Pacold justified her decision to reject the urgent application with a lack of responsibility. Since Kelly was imprisoned outside of her court district, the court has no legal basis for a decision in this case. “Kelly has not proven a legal basis for the jurisdiction of this court,” says the written justification. A hearing scheduled for Friday was then canceled.

Kelly’s defender Beau Brindley was not surprised by the decision. “We knew that technical responsibility would be a challenge under these circumstances,” he said in a statement. “However, we had no choice but to act immediately, given the explicit evidence of a threat to Robert Kelly’s life.” Brindley announced that the same day would be applied to cancel the convictions in Chicago, based on newly discovered. At the same time, he demands an immediate release of his client.

According to the defense, Kelly’s situation worsened drastically after submitting the emergency application. He was transferred to solitary confinement as “punishment”, where prison officers “gave him a lot of medication that could have killed him”. Kelly suffered an overdose and had to be taken to the hospital.

When an operation was set, officials allegedly removed him against his will and against medical instructions from the hospital. “I can now confirm that this threat continues and is more serious than ever,” emphasized Brindley. “Mr. Kelly is still in prison with blood clots in the lungs, which threatens his life every minute in which the surgical intervention is refused.”

R. Kelly, who denies the allegations, was guilty in several trials for serious sex crimes in 2021 and 2022 and later sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison. Since he is allowed to serve a large part of his punishments in parallel, he should spend around 31 years in prison.