Attorneys continue sparring over prosecutor’s contact with R. Kelly witness in days before Chicago federal trial
Federal prosecutors this week shot back against accusations that the former lead prosecutor on the R. Kelly case had inappropriate contact with potential witnesses, saying much of the purportedly suspicious contact between her and a key victim had to do merely with scheduling and logistics.
And attorneys for Kelly co-defendant Derrel McDavid made a fiery response Wednesday, saying they want to call the prosecutor as a trial witness to explain herself under oath.
The filings were the latest in a wide-ranging battery of motions ahead of Kelly’s next trial. Most of the attorneys’ recent requests have yet to be resolved; jury selection begins Monday.
Kelly, 55, was indicted in July 2019 on charges of conspiring with McDavid and another associate, Milton “June” Brown, to rig his 2008 child pornography case in Cook County and hide years of alleged sexual abuse of underage girls. The trial is slated to last at least a month.
Among a flurry of other motions filed this week: Prosecutors’ request that the defense be prohibited from calling someone to testify about Kelly’s low IQ. A defense request to bar prosecutors from calling an expert witness in child sexual abuse and grooming. And an allegation by co-defendant McDavid that prosecutors have botched the chain of custody for a central videotape allegedly showing Kelly molesting his young teenage goddaughter.
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