A Brooklyn judge has turned down a bid from R. Kelly’s legal team to dismiss charges that he knowingly infected a 19-year-old fan with herpes.
According to Kelly, the charges were unconstitutional because the woman was 19, and therefore a consenting adult.
“The charges against him are not, as he claims, premised on his ‘private sexual decisions’ or ‘private sexual conduct,'” the judge wrote in her ruling. “Rather, the allegation is that the defendant knew that he had herpes and engaged in sexual activity without telling the victim that he was infected.”
He is accused of arranging travel and hotels for the alleged victim so they could meet up after a Long Island show in May 2017.
Prosecutors wrote, “The defendant did not use a condom. Prior to the intercourse, the defendant learned from his health care provider that he had contracted herpes, an infectious venereal disease, and that he should inform his sexual partners of this diagnosis and use a condom to limit exposing his sexual partners to herpes.”