A judge has denied singer R.Kelly’s request to leave jail due to the possibility of him contracting Covid-19, labeling Kelly a ‘danger to the community’ and a ‘flight risk’ .
This is the third time R.Kelly’s attempts to leave jail on ‘health conditions’ is being dismissed by the court as he is being held in prison over child sex abuse allegations, transmission of STDS and kidnapping.
In his motion for bail, which was filed earlier this month, Kelly complained that he was diabetic and overweight and therefore more susceptible to Coronavirus complications, and complained that conditions in his prison had become filthy, and it was only a matter of time before he caught the virus.
His two previous attempts to leave jail have been dismissed as the court felt his ‘Health’ reasons were not strong enogh to grant him bail.
Judge Donnelly, while dismissing Kelly’s application, said Kelly’s crimes involve the sexual abuse of minors that stretched for almost 25 years, and allegations like those do not merit bail.
The judge said that although Kelly has insisted that if set free, he’d return to Illinois to stand trial like he did in his 2008 child porn trial, the grand jury found probable cause that he bribed witnesses in that case, and she doesn’t want a repeat of that alleged behavior.
”The defendant is charged in Illinois and New York with extraordinarily serious crimes, for which he faces a long prison term if convicted,” Judge Donnelly wrote in her decision
“That prospect makes him a flight risk. The nature of the charges—which include crimes against minor victims, threats against potential witnesses and paying bribes to keep witnesses from cooperating—make him a danger to the community, including that he could attempt to tamper with prospective witnesses.”
Kelly’s trial starts later this year.
