R. Kelly Grand Jury Reportedly Seated Amid New Evidence: Report
A grand jury has reportedly been seated in Cook County, IL over new allegations against Grammy-winning R&B singer R. Kelly, according to CNN on Monday. The network cited two sources familiar with the case.
The office of the Cook County State’s Attorney did not confirm the report, which if true comes after attorney Michael Avenatti said this weekend he turned over evidence on a VHS tape showing the singer engaged in sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl; CNN reported today it had seen the footage. The lawyer for Stormy Daniels, who is representing alleged victims in the case, said he also turned over a list of witnesses.
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“The tape is within the statute of limitations necessary to charge R. Kelly, and I am confident that in the coming days R. Kelly will be indicted, he will be arrested, and I will be very surprised if he ever walks free another day in his life,” Avenatti told Chicago’s WGN9 this morning.
A lawyer for R. Kelly said Monday that he had not heard of any grand jury investigation.
“We are unaware of any new information involving Mr. Kelly,” Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenburg told CNN. “We have not been contacted by anyone. We have not been informed about any new information by anyone and we have not been contacted by law enforcement.”
Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case, which Avenatti on Sunday said was “rigged.” “We have discovered substantial evidence that [Kelly] and certain enablers engaged in systematic witness intimidation, evidence tampering, physical threats, and payments to witnesses,” Avenatti wrote on Twitter.
Kelly’s lawyers, not the same team that defending him in that 2008 case, told TMZ that those claims about the trial are baseless.
Scrutiny against Kelly has increased since Lifetime aired at the beginning of the year Surviving R. Kelly, a six-part docuseries in which people from Kelly’s inner circle came forward with new allegations about his sexual, mental and physical abuse. The docuseries averaged 2.1 million viewers and was Lifetime’s strongest nonfiction series in seven years among adults 25-54 and women 25-54.
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