R. Kelly Appears In Court For Child Sex Abuse Case

R. Kelly was back in court in Chicago Wednesday morning where prosecutors turned over a tape that allegedly shows him raping an underage victim.

The embattled R&B star, who’s facing 18 charges for sexually abusing four women, three of whom were underage at the time, appeared alongside his lawyer. Judge Lawrence Flood ordered that the tape not be publicly released.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s case largely rests on the alleged rape tape that was provided to the prosecution by Michael Avenatti, who’s representing two of Kelly’s accusers.

The tape purportedly shows Kelly raping a 14-year-old girl.

Kelly’s lawyer Steve Greenberg agreed to not share the tape and told Flood he planned to file motions pertaining to the charges’ statute of limitations.

Much of the abuse Kelly is accused of happened in the 1990s but in 2017, Illinois passed a bill that eliminated the statutes of limitations for all felony criminal sexual assault and sexual abuse crimes against children.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Flood expects a trial date to be set for early next year and scheduled the next pre-trial status hearing for August 15.

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