A federal judge has rejected R Kelly’s second attempt at using the coronavirus pandemic to get released from the Chicago jail where he is being held.
When Kelly made his first request for release on April 7, no inmates at the federal facility had yet tested positive for COVID-19. So his lawyers were hoping that since 23 inmates had gone on to be diagnosed with the disease, this was a change of circumstances.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly has again denied Kelly’s second request for release on the grounds that he is a flight risk and could seek to coerce or intimidate witnesses.
“The risks associated with the defendant’s release have not changed,” she wrote.
The disgraced singer is being held at the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting trial on numerous charges — including sexual misconduct charges and racketeering.
His lawyers have insisted the singer is 53 years old and his medical history made him susceptible to the coronavirus.
They have also complained that the lockdown measures at the facility have made it nearly impossible to work with Kelly to prepare for trial.
“Even aside from the risk of flight, the risk that the defendant would try to obstruct justice or intimidate prospective witnesses has not dissipated, and poses a danger to the community,” the judge wrote.
Donnelly conceded that conditions have worsened at the facility, but also said, “As the defendant recognizes, the entire BOP population cannot be released because of COVID-19.”
Kelly’s defense attorney Michael Leonard painted a harrowing picture of life behind bars amid the coronavirus pandemic marred by heightened ‘stress’;
‘Inmates are reportedly banging on doors, walls, and windows begging for help,’ he wrote. ‘The only thing the MCC has done is lock things down, making the situation feel more like solitary confinement and possibly, because of the nature of this virus, locking in healthy inmates with those who may already have the virus but who may not yet be symptomatic.’
‘Based on all of the above, that Mr. Kelly will be infected with this deadly disease, is now unfortunately an absolute probability,’ Leonard wrote.
The lawyer also argued that Kelly is too famous to try and run away;
Kelly ‘would be perhaps the most obvious and recognizable person on the streets of Chicago, or anywhere else in the country, in light of the severe stay-at-home restrictions that are and will continue to be in place and enforced,’ he argued.
The defendant is currently in custody because of the risks that he will flee or attempt to obstruct, threaten or intimidate prospective witnesses,’ she wrote in her denial. ‘The defendant has not explained how those risks have changed,” Judge Donnelly added.
