R&B star R. Kelly was once again denied release from jail as he awaits trial, this time by a trio of federal appeals court judges.
The disgraced "I Believe I Can Fly" singer had appealed a Brooklyn judge's third ruling that he must remain detained in a Chicago jail before his Brooklyn trial. Kelly and his lawyers argued he was not a risk to interfere with witnesses or to flee, but the judges ruled against him.
"We perceive no clear error in the district court's determination that the government has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that Kelly presents risk of a danger to the community and by a preponderance of the evidence that Kelly presents a flight risk," the judges wrote in their decision. "Likewise, the court did not clearly err in determining that Kelly failed to demonstrate a 'compelling reason' for temporary release."
The appeals judges added that the two judges overseeing Kelly's trials would ensure that Kelly was afforded "adequate opportunity" to meet with his lawyers before his trial.
Kelly was hit with child pornography charges in federal court in Illinois and racketeering charges in Brooklyn.
The singer has not seen his lawyers in person since the coronavirus hit the United States in early March.
But Appellate Judge Dennis Jacobs said that that is normal given the circumstances of the pandemic.
"The Bureau of Prisons' limitation on attorney visits is reasonable given the coronavirus pandemic," Jacobs said during the appeal hearing last week. "Mr. Kelly still has access to his attorneys via telephone calls."
Kelly, 53, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, faces racketeering charges in Brooklyn Federal Court for allegedly running an enterprise in which women and girls were selected from the audience at his shows and then recruited as sexual partners. He is also accused of knowingly transmitting STDs to a teen groupie.
There are no dates set for either trial, though the Brooklyn trial is expected to proceed first.
