R. Kelly's lawyer Steve Greenberg is ready to prove his client's innocence. The Chicago defense attorney said he was sure his client's upcoming trial would "end with a dismissal or a 'not guilty' verdict" during his appearance on BBC's The Next Episode podcast with Ben Zand on Thursday.
R&B superstar Kelly faces 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of four different women, over the course of nearly a decade. Of the women listed in the indictment, three were considered underage during their alleged sexual encounters with Kelly.
The "I Believe I Can Fly" singer denied the accusations and entered a not guilty plea, despite reports of prosecutors having video footage of Kelly engaging in sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl. The tape was first revealed by New York City lawyer Michael Avenatti, who claimed to have turned the videos over to Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx back in February. CNN also reported having viewed the tape, in which a man appearing to be Kelly can be seen having sex with a young girl.
However, Greenberg says the alleged new tapes of Kelly are a fluke. "There's no new video out there. That is not correct," he said on the podcast.
"I don't care if [CNN has] seen it. I don't believe that's child pornography of R. Kelly. It might be child pornography of someone else, I don't know. It may not be child pornography at all. That is not a new or different video than the video that a jury decided was not R. Kelly."
The singer faced trial on charges of child pornography back in 2008 after a videotape surfaced of Kelly having sex with an underage girl. Kelly was found not guilty by a jury.
Avenatti, however, insisted his tape was not related to the one presented in Kelly's former case. He shared explicit details of the alleged new tape, in which the girl often refers to herself as a 14-year-old as well as phrases Kelly used while speaking to the girl like, "Give me that 14-year-old p***y" and "Give me that 14-year-old booty hole."
As for the two women Kelly is accused of holding against their will in his Chicago residence, Greenberg insisted, "They're not hostages."
"I have been over to his condo. We've been reading, we've been talking about stuff. We decided we wanted to get something to eat. The two girls went out to Chipotle, down the street to get the food and bring it back," Greenberg said.
Greenberg also noted there may be a meeting arranged between Kelly and the family of Joycelyn Savage, who was the first to accuse the 52-year-old singer of holding their daughter in a sex cult against her free will. "I have listened to Darrell (Kelly's publicist) and he is adamant, adamant that a meeting should take place," Greenberg said.
"They should see their daughter. He's conveyed the same message to the Savages. They want some meeting in a neutral site," he continued.
Despite the growing accusations against Kelly—two more women came forward in March with claims the singer sexually assaulted them when they were underage in 1996—Greenberg believed his client has committed no wrongdoing.
"The R. Kelly I know is a regular guy. You know, he lives in a regular condo in Trump Tower. He eats McDonald's. He plays basketball. He smokes cigars at a cigar bar. He's a pretty simple guy," Greenberg said. "I'll tell you what, he's awfully strong because I don't know that I could stand up with all these accusations and not have a complete breakdown."
If convicted, Kelly could face up to 70 years in prison.
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Michigan native, Janice Williams is a graduate of Oakland University where she studied journalism and communication. Upon relocating to New ... Read more
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