R.Kelly’s legal team has filed a handful of motions asking for a new trial or reversal of his recent conviction.
On Tuesday, the R&B singer’s lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, filed a set of motions seeking a new trial or a reversal of his September conviction on child pornography and other related sex abuse charges.
In September, Kelly was convicted on child pornography charges. The singer was found guilty of sexually abusing his underage goddaughter and other girls. However, Kelly was acquitted of the allegations that he rigged the initial trial in 2008.
In Bonjean’s first motion, she asks the U.S. District Judge to acquit Kelly on all counts due to several technical factors. To detail, Bonjean claims prosecutors had not proven that the videotape of Kelly abusing his goddaughter at his home was made for the “purpose” of producing child pornography.
The attorney also argues it wasn’t enough evidence to prove the tape had ever crossed state lines, which prosecutors were required to provide.
In addition, Bonjean adds prosecutors did not prove that Kelly had “coerced” underage victims to engage in sex acts.
In another motion, Bonjean seeks a new trial because of alleged incorrect statements from the government’s first witness at trial, Dr. Darrel Turner. Turner testified as an “expert” on how sexual predators “groom” underage victims.
According to Bonjean, Turner told the jury that he billed prosecutors $250/hour for his work on the case when it was actually $450. Turner also told prosecutors that he was paid for two hours of work when he really got paid for six and a half hours.
Bonjean claims the prosecutors knew of Turner’s misstatements and chose not to correct them for the jury.
Prosecutors are expected to file a counter-response to Bonjean’s allegations later this month.
