Jury selection in R. Kelly’s second child pornography trial is set to begin today, Roomies, and the jailed singer’s legal team is already making pleas with the judge to ensure fairness among the jurors who will be present.
According to TMZ, Kelly and his legal team have filed a motion to disqualify jurors who have seen “any portion” of the 2019 documentary ‘Surviving R. Kelly,’ which detailed Kelly’s crimes from the point of view of his accusers and their families. Kellz’s legal team fears that those who have seen the docuseries present some sort of bias in the case.
Any potential juror who has watched any portion of this docuseries must be disqualified for cause on whether they can be fair, too great a risk exists that such a juror would base their verdict on matters not introduced into evidence in the courtroom.”
As we previously reported, R. Kelly is facing child pornography and obstruction of justice charges for his alleged sexual relationships with underaged girls. ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ uncovered those crimes, as young women alleged the singer held them hostage in his home and forced them to perform sexual acts with him on camera. The documents explicitly state that jurors who have seen the docuseries are “prejudiced”
Any potential juror who has seen any portion of Surviving R. Kelly is prejudiced where there’s no scenario which an individual exposed to the contents of Surviving R. Kelly can be impartial.”
Kelly already serving a 30 year prison sentenced after he was convicting of all nine counts in his sex trafficking case. Judge Donnelly, who sentenced Kelly back in June, stated that he was a risk to the public and she needed to “protect the public from further crimes.”
This is a developing story.
