Exposure Of Partners To Sexually Transmitted Diseases, R.Kelly Wants Charges Dropped
Singer R. Kelly wants the court to dismiss allegations that he deliberately exposed two people to a sexually transmitted disease.
Singer R. Kelly faces various sex trafficking in New York City and is on trial in Illinois and Minnesota for various independent crimes. Singer R. Kelly also allegedly had sexual contact with a minor in 2006.
According to court documents TMZ received, Kelly and her legal team are attempting to dismiss the sexually transmitted disease charge by claiming that herpes is not a recognized sexually transmitted disease. He also denies the allegations.
He also clarified that the singer should not be charged with breaking New York law when he was accused of transmitting the herpes virus to two prosecutors.
Singer R. Kelly added that lawmakers had not included herpes because it “is not an acute bacterial venereal disease.” His legal team also claimed that the virus did not fall under the umbrella of STIs because of the New York State Department of health over syphilis or gonorrhea and the definition of the World Health Organization.
It is not known if the judges will drop the charges against R. Kelly.
Kelly will begin the trial on August 18 and is expected to last four weeks. In addition to the herpes charges, he faces state sex trafficking in Chicago and statewide in Illinois and Minnesota.
Potential jurors will be asked if they can be open to the case.
When asked how he was feeling, R. Kelly’s lawyer Deveraux Cannick told AFP: “Just Another Monday”.
R. Kelly, one of the biggest R&B stars of the 1990s, has been in custody since July 2019.
The New York prosecutor’s office accuses the singer – real name Robert Kelly – of leading an entourage of bosses, bodyguards and others who recruited women and girls and prepared them for sex. Prosecutors say the victims were selected at concerts and other venues.
He is said to have isolated the victims from their family and friends and forced them to call him “daddy”.
