R. Kelly was a no-show for the first hearing on his sexual abuse cases in Cook County since the R&B singer was indicted by federal prosecutors for an alleged conspiracy to set up sexual encounters with underage girls and engaged in a wide-ranging coverup to avoid prosecution.
Kelly “refused transport” from the federal lockup in downtown Chicago for the hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Gonzalez told Judge Lawrence Flood.
In February, Cook County prosecutors were the first jurisdiction to bring charges against the Chicago native, charging him with sexual abuse of four women, including three minors.
Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said the U.S. Marshals Service had expressed concerns about difficulties transporting the star, declining to go into detail in open court.
“Suffice it to say that the Marshals Service said moving Mr. Kelly is a large undertaking,” Greenberg said.
Kelly has been in federal custody since he was arrested July 11 in Chicago.
Gonzalez filed a motion Thursday to increase Kelly’s $1 million bail — $250,000 for each of the four cases — in light of federal charges the singer now faces in New York and Chicago, as well as prostitution charges filed against Kelly this month by prosecutors in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
Kelly, who was free on bond on the Cook County charges after spending three nights in jail in February, already had been ordered held without bail in both federal cases, Greenberg noted.
Flood put off a ruling on increasing Kelly’s bail, insisting the singer be present in court for the hearing.
“He has to be here,” Flood said. “There’s due process issues.”
Whether Kelly attends future hearings on his Cook County cases remain undecided. Greenberg said it would not be unusual for Kelly to waive court appearances in a state court while his federal cases are pending.
Flood asked whether the Cook County cases would proceed while the federal cases are ongoing; Gonzalez said prosecutors in the different jurisdictions were communicating, but had not decided which case would go to trial first.
“I got asked that in New York (federal court), and my answer was ‘Everybody wants to go first,’” Greenberg said.
Greenberg said Kelly’s Cook County cases should be on hold, noting that the New York federal indictment — which charges Kelly under a racketeering law typically used to prosecute organized crime figures in sprawling criminal enterprises — charges Kelly for conduct that likely is involved in the Cook County case.
“I’m sorry they are not all talking to each other. That is shocking to me, but I don t know how anyone can say these cases can proceed,” Greenberg said. “The cases are terribly intertwined, and these (Cook County) cases shouldn’t proceed until (the federal) cases are resolved.”
