R.Kelly cut ties with his original Chicago legal team this past Wednesday and has enlisted Jennifer Bonjean’s to help appeal his conviction.
During a telephone conference Wednesday morning, Kelly said he wanted Jennifer Bonjean to represent him in the Chicago chase, set for a jury trial in August. The singer is currently awaiting sentencing in Brooklyn for his racketeering conviction in New York last year. Bonjean confirmed their legal relationship through a tweet, “Just filed an appearance in Mr. Kelly’s case pending in the Northern District of Illinois. His trial date is set for August 1, 2022.”
Kelly was supposed to be in court two weeks ago, but contracted COVID-19 in his jail cell, per Rolling Stone. Due to illness, Bonjean was granted a two-week extension to allow the singer to review all necessary paperwork. Kelly was found guilty of 12 charges, including engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor and bribing a police officer to get a 15-year-old singer a fake ID, per the Chicago Tribune. He currently faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.
The disgraced singer was found guilty on charges of sexual abuse back in late September of last year. Women held him accountable for the abuse that dated back to the early 1990s. Following his conviction in New York, he also faced charges in a few other states, including federal child pornography, and obstruction counts in Chicago, per the New York Times.
