Early last year, R. Kelly was accused of exposing two people to a sexually transmitted disease (STD) by federal prosecutors – in addition to his long list of federal charges.
And now according to TMZ, Kelly’s team are attempting to have that charge removed from his case, claiming that the STD in question – herpes – isn’t actually an STD.
According to legal documents, his legal team are reportedly pulling reference from a definition from the New York State Dept. of Health and the World Health Organization, that herpes doesn’t fall under the category of STDs, the way that syphilis and gonorrhoea do.
They allegedly stated that these organisations classify herpes as a “virus” and not a “bacterial venereal disease”, therefore is not an STD.
Lawyers for R. Kelly requested for his sex trafficking trial to be postponed on account of his jail quarantine about a month ago.According to R. Kelly’s legal team, the mandatory two-week quarantine had set back their preparations for the trial.His lawyers ended up being granted extra time to prepare for his sex-trafficking trial in New York City.
The legal team also asked for Kelly to be released on bail in order to be able to prepare for the trial, however the judge reportedly denied that request almost instantaneously.The legal team were advised that they would have access to meet with Kelly in prison.
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As per Consequence of Sound, jury selection for Kelly’s sex trafficking court case in New York began on August 9th.
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See court footage of R. Kelly below:
