Photo Credit: Ye Jinghan
R. Kelly seeks a new trial amid allegations of prosecutorial corruption amid ongoing claims of a murder-for-hire plot.
R. Kelly and his attorney have filed a motion in Illinois asking that the singer’s federal conviction on sexual misconduct, racketeering, and other charges be vacated, alleging widespread prosecutorial corruption. Among the allegations, Kelly’s attorney claims significant manipulation of the 2021 trial’s key witness.
The motion’s filing comes amid ongoing claims of a murder-for-hire plot against Kelly, purportedly involving North Carolina prison officials. Last week, a federal judge denied an emergency request from Kelly to be released from prison to home confinement.
Chicago-based attorney Beau B. Brindley filed the motion for a new trial and an emergency motion for bond on behalf of the 58-year-old Kelly. Kelly is currently serving a 31-year combined sentence in North Carolina after his conviction in 2021 for violations of the Mann Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as well as a 2022 conviction for production of child pornography.
The motion cites newly discovered evidence, alleging a massive, coordinated campaign against Kelly by prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois. These prosecutors are accused of being determined to put Kelly behind bars by any means necessary after his acquittal in 2008 on child pornography charges.
Kelly and Brindley’s motion claims prosecutors conspired with Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials and cooperating witnesses to “knowingly and intentionally and repeatedly violate Mr. Kelly’s constitutional rights.”
The disgraced R&B singer was hospitalized this week, according to his attorney, for an apparent drug overdose when he was allegedly given a lethal dose of his medication while in solitary confinement. A two-week hospital stay was requested so Kelly could have a medical procedure performed, but he was allegedly forcibly removed by BOP officials and taken back to solitary confinement. This, Brindley says, convinced him of the severity of Kelly’s situation; the singer now has blood clots in his lungs.
Further, Brindley says he was unable to get a legal phone call with Kelly until June 13, and that Kelly had not eaten anything from June 10 to June 12. This led to Brindley filing an emergency motion for home detention last week, but that motion was denied on grounds that it was presented to the wrong court and the judge did not have jurisdiction to make such a decision.
“In their zeal to become Me Too warriors who brought down R. Kelly, federal prosecutors and Bureau of Prisons officers have intimidated witnesses, obstructed justice, and violated Mr. Kelly’s constitutional rights,” said Brindley in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Our motion sets forth the entire sordid story of both the crimes they committed in pursuing Kelly, and of the plot to forever silence him to prevent these crimes from being exposed. We will not rest until Mr. Kelly is free.”
In addition to his statement, Brindley and his office provided the press with numerous legal documents, including a signed declaration said to be from Mikael Glenn Stein, an Aryan Brotherhood kingpin. Stein’s declaration claims he performed the bidding of the BOP in exchange for better treatment and privileges while in prison.
Stein, who has terminal cancer, claims he can provide the names of those he has “ordered beaten and killed at the explicit direction” of the BOP. Among his claims, he says he was specifically sent to FCI Butner, where Kelly is held, and told to execute the disgraced musician. However, he claims he had a change of heart and decided not to go forward with the alleged plan.
Among the documents provided by Brindley’s office is a signed declaration from a former inmate and cellmate of Kelly, who claims he was enlisted to steal Kelly’s correspondence with his lawyer as well as his private emails. This correspondence was allegedly used to gain an “unconstitutional advantage” over Kelly by providing prosecutors access to his strategy with his legal team.
Lastly, Brindley’s motion accuses prosecutors of convincing the key witness in Kelly’s 2021 trial to change her sworn testimony from his 2008 trial. In the 2008 trial, the woman who testified as a Jane Doe asserted she was not the woman seen in a piece of video footage that became one of the trial’s most damning pieces of evidence.
“Over the last year, we have discovered that the road to [Jane’s 2021] testimony was paved by threats, empty promises, crimes, and constitutional violations,” reads the motion. “In order to have their ‘victim’ go after R. Kelly […] prosecutors are the ones that did the victimizing. They made an unwilling person play the role of victim to serve their desires for the grandeur of bringing down a larger-than-life public figure within the sanctimonious buzz of the Me Too movement. And they did it through crime, threat, and coercion.”
Brindley also informed the press last week that he will be petitioning President Trump to pardon R. Kelly. While Trump and Kelly have no prior relationship, the singer resided in Chicago’s Trump Tower until his arrest.
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