R. Kelly lawyers allege he was target of 'overdose' plot by prison guards
Kelly is currently serving a 30-year-prison sentence at a facility in North Carolina. He was found guilty of myriad crimes including federal racketeering and sex trafficking of minors.
His lawyers alleged in a flurry of filings Monday and Tuesday that Kelly was in solitary confinement when prison staff instructed him to take an "overdose quantity of medication" on June 12.
The 58-year-old became "faint" and "dizzy" by the next morning, the filing alleges.
"Mr. Kelly tried to get up, but fell to the ground. He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness," his attorneys said.
The court papers say Kelly was taken in an ambulance to Duke University Hospital and that he was under treatment for two days.
Queried by AFP, the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment.
"For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues. Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons does not comment on pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings," the office said in a statement.
Kelly's lawyers had previously filed an emergency motion for release to home detention, saying that the once-famous artist was the target of a murder plot orchestrated by prison officials.
In opposing the request, government attorneys called the accusations "fanciful" and "theatrical."
The request "makes a mockery of the harm suffered by Kelly's victims," the Chicago federal lawyers said, adding that it wasn't filed in the correct court with the jurisdiction to even entertain the accusations.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 in New York federal court for using an enterprise to systematically recruit and traffic teenagers and women for sex.
The singer known for hits including "I Believe I Can Fly" was then convicted one year later in Chicago federal court in a separate trial, in which jurors found him guilty of producing child pornography and enticement of a minor.
He is currently serving the New York prison sentence, and will serve almost all of the Chicago sentence concurrently.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
6 hours ago
- France 24
R. Kelly lawyers allege he was target of 'overdose' plot by prison guards
Kelly is currently serving a 30-year-prison sentence at a facility in North Carolina. He was found guilty of myriad crimes including federal racketeering and sex trafficking of minors. His lawyers alleged in a flurry of filings Monday and Tuesday that Kelly was in solitary confinement when prison staff instructed him to take an "overdose quantity of medication" on June 12. The 58-year-old became "faint" and "dizzy" by the next morning, the filing alleges. "Mr. Kelly tried to get up, but fell to the ground. He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness," his attorneys said. The court papers say Kelly was taken in an ambulance to Duke University Hospital and that he was under treatment for two days. Queried by AFP, the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment. "For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues. Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons does not comment on pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings," the office said in a statement. Kelly's lawyers had previously filed an emergency motion for release to home detention, saying that the once-famous artist was the target of a murder plot orchestrated by prison officials. In opposing the request, government attorneys called the accusations "fanciful" and "theatrical." The request "makes a mockery of the harm suffered by Kelly's victims," the Chicago federal lawyers said, adding that it wasn't filed in the correct court with the jurisdiction to even entertain the accusations. Kelly was convicted in 2021 in New York federal court for using an enterprise to systematically recruit and traffic teenagers and women for sex. The singer known for hits including "I Believe I Can Fly" was then convicted one year later in Chicago federal court in a separate trial, in which jurors found him guilty of producing child pornography and enticement of a minor. He is currently serving the New York prison sentence, and will serve almost all of the Chicago sentence concurrently.
France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel dies at 94: spokesman
"He died peacefully... and surrounded by his loved ones," spokesman Thomas Hull told AFP. Tributes began pouring in to Brendel, described by some as "a musical giant". Brendel, who had lived in London for more than 50 years, had a reputation for being modest, self-effacing and intensely self-critical. He gave only short, quick bows when entering or leaving the stage of his always sell-out recitals. The Guardian newspaper said once he was never one "for fireworks and histrionics". Brendel began playing the piano at the age of six and had little formal training after the age of 16. He was best known for his performances of the great European composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Liszt. An Austrian citizen, born on January 5, 1931, in Wiesenberg in northern Moravia, now the Czech Republic, Brendel spent his childhood travelling throughout Yugoslavia and Austria. Following World War II, the family moved to Graz in Austria, where Brendel studied at the city's conservatory. When he retired from concert performances in Vienna in December 2008, he was asked what he would miss most. "The adrenalin," he said. And "in spite of all those obnoxious coughers and the mobile telephones and hearing aids going off," he would miss the public, too, Brendel said. The Royal Philharmonic Society mourned the passing of "a musical giant with the tenderest touch" in a post on the social network X. © 2025 AFP
France 24
10 hours ago
- France 24
'Second time I've died': Nobel laureate Jelinek denies death reports
"Again? This is the second time I've died. It already happened last year. But I'm alive," the 78-year-old writer told AFP. Jelinek, one of the most widely read and studied authors in the German language, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004. The false announcement came from an account on social media platform X posing as the Austrian subsidiary of Germany's Rowohlt publishing house. The information was picked up and published by Austrian and German media outlets. Rowohlt rebuffed the announcement on its official social media and the fake X account later posted a message confirming it had been a hoax. "This account is (a) hoax created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti," the account posted. The name has been used for years in connection with pranks spreading false information online. Politicians have also been fooled by pranks apparently carried out by the same person. An Austrian lawmaker requested a minute's silence during a parliamentary meeting in 2022 as a tribute to former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, who had been declared dead by Debenedetti. Jelinek is best known for her 1983 novel "The Piano Teacher", about a woman whose quest for self-mutilation and sado-masochim destroys her romance with a young student. The book was made into an award-winning film in 2001 and won Jelinek fame outside the German-speaking world.
