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Artist News Legal Top Stories
New charges added to R Kelly’s sexual abuse case
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 31 May 2019
Eleven new charges have been added to R Kelly’s sexual assault case. All appear to relate to one of the existing alleged victims, but some come with stronger possible sentences than those he was previously facing.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the new charges are four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a victim between the ages of thirteen and sixteen.
Court documents list the alleged victim as JP, which are initials already used in relation to previous charges. Prosecutors have previously said that JP is a woman who Kelly met when she asked him for an autograph during his previous trial on child sexual abuse charges. She is said to have been sixteen at the time.
Kelly was charged back in February with ten counts of aggravated assault against four women in relation to incidents that occurred over a period of more than a decade.
The new criminal charges followed the airing of the ‘Surviving R Kelly’ documentary, that put the numerous allegations of assault made against the musician back in the spotlight. Those allegations had only previously resulted in one criminal action, leading to the trial where Kelly met JP, and at which he was found not guilty.
The star continues to deny all the allegations made against him but, if convicted of the February charges, he faces a sentence of up to 70 years in prison. Four of the new charges carry heavier sentences of up to 30 years each.
On Twitter, Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg was keen to stress that the latest charges relate to an existing rather than new criminal case. He wrote: “R Kelly was NOT charged with a new case. He was recharged in an existing case, same alleged victim and time (a decade ago) It changes nothing”.
“These are the same conduct, just charged differently, same alleged victim, same time frame, same facts”, he added. “We expect the same results”.
