- In 2008, a jury acquitted R. Kelly on 14 counts of child pornography, after concluding they couldn't verify the female in a sex video with the singer was underage.
- Now, his defense lawyer for the case told the Chicago Sun-Times that Kelly was "guilty as hell."
- Ed Genson said he's speaking out now that he has terminal bile duct cancer and "it would be nice to get it down so somebody knows."
- Genson also told the paper he doesn't think Kelly is guilty of the current charges against him: 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse against four different women.
Ed Genson — the high-profile Chicago criminal defense attorney who defended R. Kelly during his 2008 child pornography trial — told the Chicago Sun-Times that Kelly was guilty in that case, but may not be in his current one.
"He was guilty as hell!" Genson told the paper in a story published Friday. "I don't think he's done anything inappropriate for years."
In 2008, Kelly went on trial for 14 counts of child pornography, accused of making a video of himself having sex with his 14-year-old goddaughter. Genson led a team of four lawyers in that case.
He took a famously aggressive approach, filing motions that delayed the trial for six years and comparing a witness to Satan. It seemed to work: the jury ultimately acquitted Kelly on all counts, concluding that while it was Kelly in the video, they couldn't verify the female in the video was underage.
In February of this year, Kelly was charged with 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse against four different women, three of whom were underage when the alleged abuse took place, according to prosecutors. Kelly pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Genson, now 77 years old, told the Sun-Times he's been diagnosed with terminal bile duct cancer and decided to speak out. He said Kelly's "CBS This Morning" interview with Gayle King was a way of tampering with the jury.
"I can say whatever I want, but we've got to do it fast," he told the Sun-Times. "It would be nice to get it down so somebody knows besides me."
Genson told the paper he knew Kelly was attracted to young girls, but kept him from getting arrested again. One strategy, he alleged, was putting him on medication that suppressed his libido.
"I'll tell you a secret: I had him go to a doctor to get shots, libido-killing shots," he told the Sun-Times. "That's why he didn't get arrested for anything else."
Numerous women have accused Kelly of having sex with them while they were underage.
Genson — who also represented former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his corruption trial — told the paper he meddled in other ways to keep Kelly in check. Genson said he told Kelly to change the lyrics to "Ignition," which the singer remixed into one of his biggest hits, because it was originally about the relationship between a teacher and student.
Read the full story from the Chicago Sun-Times »
- Read more:
- R. Kelly was charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse after decades of accusations. Here are all the allegations against him.
- R. Kelly blames the parents of 2 young women he lives with for giving their daughters up to him in exchange for money
- R. Kelly is arrested again after failure to pay more than $161,000 in child support
- R. Kelly breaks down in explosive interview denying sexual abuse allegations: 'You're killing me with this s---!'
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