R. Kelly has had six best-selling albums, three nationwide tours, and received a multitude of awards since being charged with child pornography five years ago, for allegedly videotaping sex acts with a young
teenager — but there still hasn’t been a trial.
A series of sometimes strange events, according to AM New York, including a judge’s tumble from a ladder and a case of appendicitis has delayed the 40-year old singer/songwriter/producer’s trial longer than the norm. Kelly is due in court Friday for another status hearing but there is still no trial date in sight as he prepares to release a new album on May 29.
Michael Jackson’s trial has long begun and ended since Kelly’s indictment and according to legal observers, Kelly’s trial should have been finished years ago.
“Five years is a long time,” said Michael Helfand, a Chicago attorney
with no connection to Kelly’s case. “Most child pornography cases find
themselves in a courtroom within a year or two.”
Suspects have a right to demand a swift trial, however they’re not
obliged to ask for one — especially if they calculate that speed isn’t
in their best interests. Kelly’s lawyer’s may figure that the delays have worked in their
client’s favor, and not only because they’ve given him the chance to
keep working and make millions, according to sources.
“You may have a jury that’s going to come in and say, ‘So this happened
in the 1990s and this is 2007? I’m just not buying it,'” Helfand said.
Messages left for Kelly’s attorney’s were not returned, and prosecutors declined to comment.
Kelly spokesman Allan Mayer says he was told the trial could get under
way early this summer. “But,” he added, “I’ve been told ‘early in the
summer’ for the past three years now.”
R. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly was charged in 2002 after the
tape was leaked to the media and bootlegged copies hit the streets
nationwide. Authorities said the girl on the tape was as young as 13
when it was made. The superstar pleaded not guilty, and has said he intends to survive his legal tribulations.
“I’m going through my own struggle … and you’re either gonna fold or
you’re going to stand,” he told The Associated Press in 2005, “and I
believe in standing.”
A conviction could send Kelly to prison for up to 15 years.