CHICAGO _ A Cook County judge on Tuesday declined to increase the $1 million bond for singer R. Kelly on his pending sex abuse cases and also shot down an unusual bid by a woman who posted Kelly's bond in February who now wants her $100,000 back.
Prosecutors at the Leighton Criminal Court Building had not spelled out how much they wanted to increase Kelly's bond, but the move was largely symbolic in light of the new federal charges brought in July in Chicago and New York.
But Circuit Judge Lawrence Flood declined to do so, calling the request a "moot point" given that Kelly is already being held without bail on both of the federal indictments.
The judge also rejected the bid by Valencia Love for the return of her $100,000, saying she has no legal basis to ask for her bail money back at this point.
Love's attorney argued in a four-page motion that it made no sense for the money to sit "in deposit" if Kelly is being held without bond in the two federal cases anyway.
Love is a restaurateur who described herself in the court paperwork filed in February as Kelly's friend.
In the motion, attorney John Collins wrote that Love was "unaware of any additional ongoing investigations" at the time she posted the bond.
Collins said in court Tuesday that Love was worried she's now "in jeopardy of losing that money."
After court, Collins said Love also paid about $50,000 in back child support for Kelly when he was briefly locked up for that debt in March. He said she had agreed to help Kelly with the understanding that he would pay the money back while out on bond awaiting trial.
"She's a small business owner, and now she's out that money," he said.
Love, 47, of Romeoville, could not be reached for comment.
Kelly, 52, appeared in court dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit issued by the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he's currently being housed. He kept his hands behind his back and did not speak during the brief hearing. As he was led out of the courtroom, Kelly turned toward supporters in the gallery and nodded slightly.
Kelly's lead attorney, Steven Greenberg, told reporters in the courthouse lobby that prosecutors had "no legal basis" to ask for the increased bond, calling the effort the latest example of the embattled star being treated unfairly by the legal system.
"All we want is for R. Kelly to be treated like everyone else," Greenberg said. "And so far he's been treated differently. There has been a rush to judgment."
Kelly was first indicted in Cook County in February weeks after State's Attorney Kim Foxx made an unusual public plea for any Kelly accusers to come forward, citing "deeply, deeply disturbing" allegations raised in a Lifetime documentary series.
Four separate indictments in Cook County charge the embattled singer, legally named Robert Kelly, with sexually assaulting one woman and sexually abusing three others years ago. Three of the alleged victims were underage at the time, according to prosecutors.
In the most serious blow for the onetime superstar, though, Kelly was charged in July in federal courts in Chicago and Brooklyn. He was arrested as he walked his dog near his residence in Trump Tower in downtown Chicago.
The New York indictment alleges a racketeering conspiracy in which he and his associates recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual contact with Kelly, then isolated and threatened them to keep them under his control.
The Chicago indictment alleges Kelly and his associates fixed his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County by paying off witnesses and victims to change their stories.
In calling Kelly a risk to flee and a danger, a federal prosecutor in Chicago said, "We're talking seventh and eighth grade girls. ... He sexually abused them hundreds of times before they turned 18.
He also was charged in August by the Hennepin County attorney in Minneapolis with prostitution on allegations he solicited an underage girl who sought his autograph 18 years ago.
Prosecutors have yet to decide which of the cases will proceed to trial first. Earlier this month, the judge overseeing the Chicago federal case set a tentative trial date of April 27.
