R Kelly pleads not guilty to 11 new sex charges
Among the 11 new counts are four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault
R Kelly has pleaded not guilty to 11 additional sex-related felonies during a court hearing in Chicago.
Prosecutors did not ask the judge to raise the bond amount for Kelly during Thursday's hearing in Cook County court.
Kelly stood and listened to the judge describe the charges in a gray suit, with his hands folded in front of him. When the judged asked if he understood, Kelly, responded, "Yes, sir."
Among the 11 new counts are four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. That is more than four times as long as the maximum term for each of the 10 counts Kelly was originally charged with in February.
Kelly has denied any wrongdoing.
His defence attorney Steve Greenberg said after the hearing that he couldn’t speculate as to why prosecutors brought the new charges. They pertain to one of the four women Kelly was charged in February with sexually abusing years ago, three of whom were minors when the alleged abuse occurred.
“It’s the same case. It’s just that they’ve just changed what they’ve charged him with,” Greenberg said. “It’s the same facts ... the same bond, the same evidence. We expect the same result.”
According to the new indictment, the first eight counts are from encounters that allegedly occurred between 1 January and 31 January, 2010. Three others pertain to alleged encounters between 1 May, 2009, and 31 January, 2010.
Among other things, prosecutors allege that Kelly used force or threatened to do so to pressure the accuser into sex or to perform oral sex on him. Since she was allegedly underage at the time, the statute of limitations for bringing charges was extended to 20 years from her 18th birthday, they wrote.
Additional reporting by agencies