Former pop superstar R. Kelly has been transferred from a Chicago prison to New York a few months before the trial is currently scheduled to begin. Kelly was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn borough on Tuesday, US media reported.
Celebrity inmates in New York
The prison listed Kelly as an inmate online Wednesday. Ghislaine Maxwell - former partner of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 - is also currently awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Kelly had been in jail in Chicago since his arrest in 2019. The trial against the singer in New York, originally scheduled for May 2020 and postponed several times due to the corona pandemic, is currently scheduled for August. Kelly is accused, among other things, of sexual abuse of minors – but maintains his innocence and has already pleaded not guilty several times. Long indictments against Kelly are also pending in Chicago and Minnesota.
Request for release failed every time
The musician had repeatedly asked for early release on bail because of the pandemic, but had failed each time. Recently there had been discrepancies and substitutions in his defense team.
dpa/jti
