R. Kelly Legal Team Seeks To Bar Jurors Who Have Seen ‘Surviving R. Kelly’
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The legal team for R. Kelly does not want jurors for his upcoming Chicago trial to have watched Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.
In preparation for his Chicago federal trial, R. Kelly is asking to bar jurors who have watched Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly. With two seasons, the January 2019 premiere episode was the network’s highest-rated program in over two years. Now, Kelly’s defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean is calling for an unbiased jury who has not watched the hit show.
Although prosecutors intend to call docuseries interviewees to the stand, including Lisa Van Allen and Jerhonda Pace, Bonjean claims that jurors who have watched the Lifetime program would be unable to separate allegations from evidence during the trial.
“No one, even a well-intentioned person, would be capable of purging his brain of information obtained through the docuseries or separating information learned from the documentary that was never subject to cross-examination from testimony introduced at trial on the same subject matter,” Bonjean wrote to US District Judge Harry Leinenweber. “There is substantial overlap between the subject matter of this prosecution and the subject matter of the documentary.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, 100 potential jurors submitted questionnaires last week at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse federal courthouse for potential trial selection. Those submitting were able to share their thoughts on the singer-songwriter, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June on federal racketeering charges.
“Some potential jurors who have seen the documentary have indicated that they are still capable of being impartial. This representation is in a word – absurd,” Bonjean wrote in her letter to Leinenweber.
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