Crime & Law
Federal Prosecutors Call R. Kelly’s Claims of a Murder Plot Targeting Him a ‘Fanciful Conspiracy’
In this Sept. 17, 2019, file photo, R. Kelly appears during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
Convicted singer R. Kelly’s efforts to secure his release from prison amid what he claims is a murder plot against him orchestrated by federal officials is a “fanciful conspiracy” that “makes a mockery of the harm” suffered by his victims, prosecutors said in a new motion Monday.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago filed a motion strenuously objecting to Kelly’s request for release and disputing the “fantastic allegations” in the disgraced singer’s motion.
“Imagine a scenario where any and every incarcerated criminal could go back to the criminal court(s) that imposed a sentence of imprisonment upon them, allege that they fear imminent harm, and demand to be released from custody while the matter was investigated,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Julien wrote in the government’s motion. “Every convicted murderer, rapist, and terrorist will have a newfound shot at freedom. This is an impractical, unworkable, and unlawful scenario.”
Kelly, who has been convicted in two separate trials on charges of racketeering conspiracy and child pornography, alleged this month that his life is in danger because officials with the Bureau of Prisons are seeking to kill him after federal officials allegedly stole confidential communications to help secure his conviction.
In his Chicago case, a federal jury found Kelly sexually abused his 14-year-old goddaughter “Jane” and other minors in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to his motion, Bureau of Prisons officials and Kelly’s former cellmate illegally accessed Kelly’s communications while he was incarcerated and then handed that information over to federal prosecutors to help turn witnesses against Kelly.
The motion then claims that a bureau official transferred an incarcerated member of the Aryan Brotherhood to Kelly’s prison with instructions to kill him to cover up that alleged scheme.
Federal prosecutors called these claims “repugnant to the sentence that this Court imposed for deeply disturbing offenses.”
Julien, who referred to Kelly in his motion as an “unapologetic” and “prolific child molester” called the singer’s claims “deeply unserious.” He also noted that Kelly filed his request in Chicago’s federal court, rather than in New York — where he was sentenced to 30 years in prison — and that Chicago courts don’t have the ability modify that sentence.
“Kelly’s motion must be denied because this Court lacks jurisdiction to afford Kelly the relief that Kelly seeks, and Kelly is seeking relief in the wrong forum, via the incorrect procedural vehicle, and having failed to exhaust his administrative remedies in the facility where he is incarcerated,” Julien wrote. “There is no legal basis for Kelly’s motion to be before this Court.”
Kelly was only sentenced to one additional year in prison following his convictions in Chicago. He is currently being held at a federal prison in North Carolina with a scheduled release date in 2045.
A motion hearing in this case has been scheduled for Friday afternoon.
