A US judge has knocked back attempts by lawyers representing RnB singer R Kelly to have that much previously reported underage sex claim against their client thrown out of court. That decision means the three year old case against the singer might finally reach trial in the next few months.
Kelly's lawyers wanted the case dismissed because, they argued, the prosecution were being too vague as to when the videotape on which the whole case hinges was recorded. The video tape in question allegedly shows Kelly engaged in sex acts with an underage girl.
Prosecutors originally said the tape had been recorded at some point between January 1998 and October 2000. When a judge back in June said that the prosecution were not being precise enough in dating the recording of the tape, prosecutors altered their assumptions to an eighteen month period. Kelly's lawyers argued that was still too vague for the case to continue, but a Chicago judge last week disagreed, ordering the singer's trial to proceed as planned.
After three years of waiting, that means Kelly will now go to court over the charges. His next court date is on 9 Dec.
As previously reported, while underage sex charges in Chicago have slowly worked their way to court, twelve charges made by police in Florida accusing Kelly of possessing child pornography were dropped after a judge ruled that allegedly incriminating photos on which that case hinged were seized during an illegal police raid and could not, therefore, be used in court.