R Kelly misses court hearing in Chicago after ‘refusing transport’ – BBC News

Singer R. Kelly has omitted a courtroom hearing, with prosecutors claiming he “refused transport” from penitentiary.

The R&B important particular person used to be due at a pre-trial hearing for his sex abuse case in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday.

Kelly’s attorney mentioned it used to be “not 100% appropriate” that the singer had refused transport, but outlined that “bright Mr Kelly is a tidy endeavor”.

The singer is within the within the meantime going by several articulate and federal charges of sexual abuse within the US, which he denies.

The accusations embody sexual assault, abuse of a minor, making incorrect images of minors, racketeering and obstruction of justice.

The hearing in Chicago persisted with out Kelly, but the divulge expressed frustration that the musician used to be absent.

“He must be right here,” Accumulate Lawrence Flood advised Kelly’s lead defence attorney Steve Greenberg.

Prosecutor Jennifer Gonzalez mentioned: “The defendant used to be to be dropped at courtroom this day. That used to be all labored out. The sheriffs were going to be bringing him over.

“As I comprehend it, he refused transport and so attributable to this the defendant is not very sooner than your honour this day.”

Greenberg argued that relate used to be “not 100% appropriate” but did not expand on why Kelly had did not uncover it out of the metropolis’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre.

“I make not wish to focus on issues that I mentioned with the US Marshals Carrier in open courtroom,” Mr Greenberg mentioned. “Suffice it to claim, the Marshal Carrier says that bright Mr Kelly is a tidy endeavor.”

Kelly is going by charges in Illinois, Recent York and Minnesota. As no resolution had been taken on the put Kelly would face charges first, Accumulate Flood had made up our minds to proceed with a trial in Chicago.

The singer’s next courtroom date in Chicago is 17 September.