R. Kelly has filed an appeal in his federal sex crimes case in New York.
The controversial singer was found guilty in 2021 on 9 federal counts that included RICO charges as well as charges pertaining to sex crimes and human trafficking, which he is now challenging, according to legal docs obtained by TMZ.
R. Kelly’s legal team is making the claim that the government did not meet its burden of proof in court, despite a jury convicting him on all counts. His attorneys say that at least 4 of the jurors selected have since admitted prejudging his guilt before they announced their verdict. In addition, they say at least 2 of them had watched the much talked about “Surviving R. Kelly” docuseries, and should never have been seated on the jury.
Regarding the underaged girls he was involved in, Kelly’s team claims that some were at least 18 years old when he met and engaged in sexual relationships with them. His team claims there was a lot of stuff that was allowed to be considered during the trial that shouldn’t have been seen or heard by the jury, and that hurt his ability to get a fair trial in the case.
Last month, R. Kelly’s team filed an appeal in his child pornography and enticement convictions, weeks after a federal judge in Chicago sentenced him to one additional year in prison on top of his previous 30-year sentence.
