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Artist News Legal
R Kelly given longer to file appeal after contracting COVID-19
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 2 February 2022
R Kelly has been granted a two week extension on the deadline to file an appeal against his conviction in the New York courts last year.
The extension was required after he contracted COVID-19 in prison. His new lawyer Jennifer Bonjean says her client is “doing well” but that his illness is making it hard from him to discuss the case over the phone.
At trial last September, Kelly was found guilty of building and running a criminal enterprise that allowed him to prolifically groom and abuse young people, often teenagers. He was convicted of all the charges against him and faces ten years to life in prison.
He vowed to appeal the ruling, firing his previous legal team and hiring Bonjean, who was behind Bill Cosby’s successful appeal of his own sexual assault conviction. The deadline to file that appeal was this Thursday.
“It is vitally important that Mr Kelly meaningfully participate in his post-trial defence”, Bonjean wrote in the motion seeking the deadline extension, saying that she hoped that he would be well enough to speak over Zoom in the coming days.
The judge overseeing the case, Ann Donnelly, agreed to push the deadline to file an appeal back to 17 Feb.
Kelly is still facing separate trials on sexual abuse charges in Chicago and Minnesota.
