R. Kelly faces 11 new felony counts, filed by the Cook County State’s Attorney office on Thursday, including charges that carry a potential sentence of between six-to-30 years in prison.
According to the charging documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, the alleged incident took place in January 2010. The new charges against Kelly include four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a victim between the ages of 13 and 16. All 11 of the new charges are felonies. The victim’s initials referenced in the charging document, J.P., are the same as one victim who was mentioned in the first charges against Kelly in February
The charges are labeled as Class X sex assault charges, which is the most serious class of felony in Illinois, murder withstanding.
Kelly is due to appear in court on Thursday, June 6.
The R&B singer was previously charged in February with aggravated sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17. He pleaded not guilty.
The Cook County State’s Attorney office did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for more information on the matter.
In a tweet, Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, said that Kelly was being “recharged in an existing case.”
#RKelly was NOT charged with a new case. He was recharged in an existing case, same alleged victim and time (a decade ago) It changes nothing
— Steve Greenberg (@SGcrimlaw) May 30, 2019
In an explosive March interview with “CBS This Morning” anchor Gayle King, Kelly pleaded his innocence. “Quit playin’. I didn’t do this stuff. This is not me,” Kelly said, staring directly into the camera. “I’m fighting for my f–ing life.”
Kelly then stood up and berated King as she remained seated, unfazed by the outburst and calmly addressed him as “Robert.”
The situation became so heated that King and Kelly’s publicist paused the interview to allow the musician to compose himself. He later apologized for being so “emotional.”