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R. Kelly pleads not guilty; feds say new charges planned

Posted at 10:48 AM, Mar 05, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-05 21:15:14-05

R&B singer R Kelly has pleaded not guilty to a 13-count federal indictment that includes child pornography charges and allegations involving a new accuser.

An attorney for the 53-year-old musician entered the plea on his behalf in Chicago federal court on Thursday.

Kelly stood silently beside his attorney in orange jail garb. The superseding indictment unsealed last month includes multiple counts of child pornography.

Prosecutors say another superseding indictment is expected in the coming weeks, but provided no details.

Kelly faces several dozen counts of state and federal sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York.

He has denied abusing anyone.

Photo caption: In this Sept. 17, 2019 file photo, R. Kelly appears during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago. State prosecutors said Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, that the first of the four Chicago sexual abuse cases against Kelly that they'll take to trial involves a hairdresser who alleges that Kelly tried to force himself on her during a 2003 appointment. Kelly, who remains jailed, faces a raft of charges in several jurisdictions, including four separate indictments on Illinois state charges involving four women who accuse the singer of sexually abusing them during a roughly 10-year period starting in the late 1990s. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File)