MINNEAPOLIS _ R&B megastar R. Kelly is scheduled to make his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon on prostitution charges for allegedly paying a girl in 2001 to strip naked and dance for him while he was in Minneapolis for a concert.
But it's unclear how Kelly, who is in custody in Illinois for a federal child pornography case, will appear, if at all, at the 1:30 p.m. hearing in Hennepin County, Minn., District Court. Kelly's legal name is Robert Sylvester Kelly.
No attorney has filed notice of representation in his Minnesota case. No documents have been filed indicating a continuance of the hearing to a future date, waiving Kelly's appearance or ordering his extradition to the state.
Steve Greenberg, one of Kelly's attorneys in the federal case, said he did not plan to attend the Minnesota hearing and had "no idea" how authorities were going to handle it.
Hennepin County attorney spokesman Chuck Laszewski said prosecutors are treating the hearing like a typical case.
A summons was filed in Kelly's case on Aug. 8 ordering him to "appear before the court" Thursday or risk having a warrant issued for his arrest.
"I haven't heard of any special measures," Laszewski said of accommodations for Kelly's appearance. "We are treating it as though he will be there."
Attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing the alleged victim in the case, said she did not plan to have any representatives from her office at the hearing, which is a procedural first hearing for people who are charged with a crime.
Allred said her client, who has not been publicly identified, would not be granting any interviews. Allred has previously noted that her client was not a prostitute, and that she was told by Minnesota authorities that the prostitution charges were the most fitting for the circumstances.
Greenberg defended Kelly when Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman held an Aug. 5 news conference to announce that his office was charging the 52-year-old with two counts of prostitution.
"The underlying facts, even if you take them at face value, don't cry out for prosecution," Greenberg said at the time. Freeman is "just in it, just like many of these women, for publicity. It's just a total perversion of the entire system and a waste of time."
Authorities said the alleged victim called a Chicago tip line in January and said that Kelly paid her $200 to dance naked in a Minneapolis hotel room.
According to the criminal complaint: In July 2001, the victim obtained an autograph from Kelly at a preconcert event at City Center in downtown Minneapolis. He had also included a phone number.
She called the number and was directed to a hotel in downtown Minneapolis where an apparent a member of Kelly's staff led her to his suite.
Kelly allegedly helped her take off her clothes and took off his own and engaged in sexual touching, the criminal complaint said. Authorities said there was no intercourse.
The singer left after the dancing and the 17-year-old was given free VIP seating for the concert restricted to guests age 18 and older. The victim's brother saw her at the show, and she later confided in him about the events of that night, according to the charges.
At the August news conference, Freeman said "there was some talk" of the juvenile traveling to Chicago to see the singer, but when she tried to call Kelly, they had trouble connecting and the phone number was soon changed.
Minneapolis police investigated the tip, interviewing the woman and her brother.
The statute of limitations doesn't apply to the 2001 incident, because the clock would have started ticking only if Kelly had moved to Minnesota and stayed for a three-year span, Freeman said last month.
Kelly faces several federal counts in Chicago for allegedly filming himself having sex with underage girls and allegedly paying potential witnesses to change their stories in a 2008 trial in which he was acquitted.
He was indicted in July in New York on several federal counts including kidnapping, sending child pornography across state lines and obstruction of justice for allegedly making hush money payments to victims.
