R. Kelly’s lawyers claim all allegations related to him spreading herpes on purpose should be dismissed before his trial starts tomorrow (August 18) should be dismissed.
Several Jane Doe witnesses could take the stand against R. Kelly to testify that he knowingly infected them with herpes.
The singer was indicted in March of 2020 and charged with having unprotected sex with a minor and failing to disclose he had an incurable disease.
But R. Kelly’s legal team has been arguing his herpes, which he has supposedly had since 2003, should not be brought up during his trial.
R. Kelly’s defense team claims that under Section 2307 of the New York Public Health Law from 1943, herpes is a virus and not an “infectious venereal disease.”
Now, his legal team is using another defense: HIV.
R. Kelly’s lawyer Thomas A. Farinella said that “other case law indicates that infection with HIV is not a serious injury, since medical advances in recent years mean that HIV no longer poses a grave risk of death.”
“If this [is] the case for HIV than herpes should not be judge differently,” Farinella added.
Opening statements for R.Kelly’s sex trafficking trial will be heard tomorrow (August 18).
An anonymous panel of seven men and five women will hear the case and weigh the facts. If R. Kelly is convicted, he is facing hundreds of years in prison.
R. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he ran an “enterprise” with his bodyguards, managers, and other enablers, who recruited young women for the singer.