Report: R. Kelly Charged With 11 New Counts Of Sexual Assault
R. Kelly is facing 11 new counts of sexual assault in Illinois, and they carry some pretty stiff mandatory penalties.
The charges were handed down on Thursday (May 30) with four of them classified as aggravated criminal sexual assault, a “Class X” count, which is the most serious in the Midwestern state outside of first-degree murder. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, they carry a mandatory sentence of six to 30 years.
In February, Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, which involved four victims, three of whom were minors.
Kelly’s lawyer says he hasn’t reviewed the new charges but has been notified of them. “We’ll see what the charges are, and we’ll proceed accordingly,” attorney Steve Greenberg told the Sun-Times. “I know this much: It’s old. They’re allegations from years ago.”
Later in a Twitter post, Greenburg claimed the new charges were linked to an existing victim. “[Kelly] 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,” Greenberg wrote. “These are the same conduct, just charged differently, same alleged victim, same time frame, same facts. We expect the same results.”
The latest charges refer to the victim by the initials “J.P.”, which are the same initials used for one of the victims in one of the cases filed in February. Kelly was charged with three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in that case. Those are Class 2 felonies with max sentences of seven years.