NEW YORK — A “nut job” looking to free disgraced R&B star R. Kelly filed twin motions in federal court in Brooklyn and Chicago in the past two weeks, arguing that the singer should be released from jail because he was never indicted.
While the seven-page motion filed on behalf of Robert Sylvester Kelly seems to be signed at the bottom by one of Kelly’s lawyers, Steven Greenberg, the bogus attempt to liberate Kelly doesn’t even spell Greenberg’s name correctly.
“Robert Kelly … respectfully moves this Honorable Court to expeditiously dismiss this criminal cause of action against Mr. Kelly for lack of jurisdiction, due to the lack of a Grand Jury indictment,” the wacky motion, filed in Chicago on Sep. 22, reads.
The Brooklyn filing was rejected by the judge on the case, who immediately saw through the ruse.
“It purports to be for Kelly and purports to be for counsel,” said Federal Judge Ann Donnelly, who handles Kelly’s Brooklyn case, during a Tuesday conference. “I’m going to go out on limb and say that’s not from counsel.
“That’s from someone who thinks he’s being helpful but obviously we know (Kelly) was indicted,” Greenberg responded.
“It was some nut job from Maryland. In a case like this you have a lot of people who want to insert themselves into everything,” Greenberg told the Daily News.
Kelly, 53, faces indictments in Brooklyn and Chicago federal courts. In Brooklyn he is being tried for allegedly heading an enterprise that trafficked women and underage girls who would come to his concerts.
In Chicago he faces production of child pornography charges dating back to the 1990s along with other charges.
The Brooklyn trial is supposed to go first, though it has been pushed back repeatedly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, Donnelly proposed a Jan. 21 date for jury selection, but lawyers pushed back, saying it conflicted with some of their other trial schedules.
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