R. Kelly’s Team Disappointed As Revered Newspaper Says He Should Not Be Released

R. Kelly’s legal team has issued a statement claiming they are disappointed, as one of Chicago’s largest newspapers posted an opinion piece — and they think that he should remain behind bars.

Kelly’s team has been trying to have him released from jail over concerns over COVID-19.

The article was titled, “Why defendant R. Kelly belongs in custody during a pandemic.”

“We were disheartened with the editorial (“Why, even now, defendant R. Kelly belongs in custody,” April 24) regarding the New York court’s decision to deny R. Kelly’s bail, which the Tribune Editorial Board linked to U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer’s decision in Chicago to grant a different detainee bail. The editorial board entirely missed the point, as well as an opportunity to educate the public,” Kelly’s legal team wrote in the statement also published in the Chicago Tribune.

The statement continues, “Mr. Kelly, and all [Metropolitan Correctional Center] detainees and personnel, are at serious risk of unnecessarily suffering through a painful and prolonged illness and facing the prospect of death. It is of paramount importance to protect pretrial detainees like Mr. Kelly, not only because they have not yet gone to trial and are presumed innocent, but also because morality requires it. The [Metropolitan Correctional Center] cannot protect them, which is why Mr. Kelly requested limited release, under terms of home confinement and electronic monitoring, at least until the pandemic passes.”