Entertainment
R Kelly pleads not guilty to s*x abuse charges, denied bail
A Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday morning denied troubled R&B singer R Kelly bail, after he was arraigned on charges of sexual abuse and racketeering.
The decision by the court came after the embattled singer pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him through his attorneys, Douglas Anton and Steven Greenberg.
Kelly was led into the courtroom in prison togs and did not address the courtroom except to tell the judge that he understood the charges against him.
Attorneys for the government claimed that if the 52-year-old singer were released on bond, he would be a flight risk with a serious danger of obstruction of justice and noted the allegations of his sexual crimes against minors.
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They also noted his “lengthy and wide-ranging history of criminal conduct” and said that during his 2002 child-pornography trial, of which he was acquitted in 2008, there were multiple claims of obstruction of justice — specifically “paying off and intimidating witnesses not to appear” — and noted the assistance of his “inner circle” with those obstruction claims.
The charges are part of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against the singer that have been filed this year.
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