Convicted intercourse predator R. Kelly requested a courtroom to disqualify anybody who has seen a preferred docuseries that explores quite a few the allegations in opposition to him from serving on the jury at his Chicago trial.
Protection lawyer Jennifer Bonjean wrote in a letter filed Sunday that any potential juror who has seen a portion of Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” wouldn’t be capable to separate the allegations within the documentary and the proof offered on the trial.
“Nobody, even a well-intentioned particular person, could be able to purging his mind of data obtained by way of the docuseries or separating info discovered from the documentary that was by no means topic to cross-examination from testimony launched at trial on the identical material,” Bonjean wrote to US District Decide Harry Leinenweber.
She added that the 2019 docuseries options interviews with quite a few witnesses whom prosecutors intend to name on the trial, together with Lisa Van Allen and Jerhonda Tempo.
“There’s substantial overlap between the subject material of this prosecution and the subject material of the documentary,” Bonjean wrote.
Within the case introduced by federal prosecutors in Illinois, Kelly is charged with a sequence of kid pornograpy and different counts for intercourse abuse he allegedly carried out throughout his years as a premiere R&B famous person.

About 100 potential jurors stuffed out questionnaires final week within the first steps to determine the jury pool at a federal courthouse within the Windy Metropolis, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In her movement, Bonjean mentioned quite a few potential panelists indicated they’d seen “Surviving R. Kelly.”
“Some potential jurors who’ve seen the documentary have indicated that they’re nonetheless able to being neutral. This illustration is in a phrase – absurd,” she wrote.
Jury choice within the case begins Monday.

Kelly, 55, was sentenced to 30 years in jail in June after his conviction on 9 counts, together with racketeering, in Brooklyn federal courtroom.
A number of victims testified on the 2021 trial, the place prosecutors painted Kelly as a “predator” who preyed on his younger followers and sexually abused them for many years.
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