A Cook County judge said Wednesday he hopes the first of four separate indictments against singer R. Kelly will go to trial early next year.
The indictments charge the embattled singer, 52, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, with sexually assaulting one woman and sexually abusing three others years ago. Three of the alleged victims were underage at the time, prosecutors alleged.
Kelly appeared for the brief hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Prosecutors handed over to Kelly’s attorneys a videotape at the center of one of the indictments.
Prosecutors have said they have footage showing Kelly sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.
Judge Lawrence Flood asked prosecutors to decide which indictment they plan to proceed to trial on first. Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Gonzalez said they have been working with detectives to make that decision.
“I’m going to move these cases along,” Flood said.
Most recently, Kelly was charged in June with
The other three indictments all charge Kelly with sexual abuse.
Those charges allege Kelly carried on a yearlong sexual relationship with a girl he had met in 1998 when she was celebrating her 16th birthday; videotaped himself having sex with a young girl at his home in Olympia Fields in the late 1990s; and tried to force oral sex on his 24-year-old hairdresser in 2003 while he was free on bond on the then-pending child pornography charges.
The singer has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
On Wednesday, Flood also issued a protective order that bars Kelly’s attorneys from publicizing the DVD. He warned to do so could be a crime.
“If there’s any violation of this protective order, I’m going to impose severe sanctions,” Flood said.
After the hearing, Kelly’s attorney, Steven Greenberg, told reporters that the defense team will be ready to go to trial next year “if we need to be.”
Greenberg said he plans to file many pretrial motions, including one arguing that the statute of limitations has expired on each of the four indictments.
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