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R. Kellywill get a do-over in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him.
The woman is one of the four alleged victims Kelly wascharged with abusing in February, for which the singer faces 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
A Chicago judge issued a default judgment in the case in April, as neither Kelly nor his lawyers had filed an answer to the suit, or made an appearance in court. On Wednesday, Judge Moira Johnson vacated the default judgment she had previously entered against Kelly, attorneys confirmed to PEOPLE. The lawsuit will now proceed with a new date of June 19,theChicago Sun-Timesreported.
Johnson’s judgment came after attorneys for Kelly claimed the singer is illiterate and couldn’t read the lawsuit documents.
“The defendant does not recall being served,” Kelly’s attorneys Raed Shalabi and Zaid Abdallah said in an April 26 court filing, according to theChicago Sun-Times.“The Defendant suffers from a learning disability that adversely affects his ability to read, in essence he cannot.”
“Our position is that these allegations are meritless and it’s just a ploy for money,” Raed Shalabi, an attorney for Kelly, told PEOPLE on Wednesday. “We as a law firm have never seen an alleged victim file a civil case during a criminal case in which the only remedy they are seeking is money.”
Shalabi continued: “We feel that R Kelly is being vilified in the media — people are already presuming he is guilty without any evidence been shown so far in the criminal or civil case, yet victims are able to file civil suits in which they’re just requesting money and nothing is being said about that.”
In response, Jeffrey Deutschman, the attorney for the alleged victim, told PEOPLE, “At the time we filed, the indictment hadn’t come down. This is a childhood sexual abuse case with a potential statute of limitations. When I get a case like this, in order to prevent any issues I file immediately.”
Deutschman alsotold reportersthat he and his client are “happy to have our day in court if that’s what [Kelly] wants. We don’t envision the jury will find anything but that the defendant abused my client when she was a minor.”
Matt Marton/AP/REX/Shutterstock
According to the suit, the alleged sexual abuse started around June 1998, during which Kelly “had sexual intercourse with the minor plaintiff” and also “engaged in oral sex” with her, the outlet reported.
The suit went on to state that the alleged victim decided to come forward after attending therapy, according to theChicago Tribune.
Kelly appeared in court Wednesday afternoon for a separate hearingregarding his ongoing child support case.
Amid his legal trouble, Kelly also gave anemotionally charged interviewwithGayle King, during which the singer grew increasingly upset as he denied the allegations made against him.
“Forget how you feel about me! Hate me if you want to, love me if you want, but use your common sense!” he told King during theCBS This Morninginterview. “How stupid would it be for me with my crazy past and what I’ve been through to be like, ‘Oh right now, I think I need to be a monster and hold girls against their will, chain ’em up in my basement and don’t let ’em eat and don’t let ’em out?’”
RELATED VIDEO: R. Kelly Claims Abuse Allegations Are ‘Lies’ in Emotionally Charged Interview, Blames ‘Social Media’
The alleged incidents all occurred between May 1998 and January 2010.
Gayle King and R. Kelly.Lazarus Jean-Baptiste/CBS
Aggravated criminal sexual abuse is a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of three to seven years per charge, and is probationable.
Kelly, who has repeatedly denied all claims against him, was previously arrested in 2002 on child pornography charges. Six years later, a Cook County jury found Kelly not guilty on all 14 counts.
Kelly’s alleged behavior came to the media forefront again in July 2017, when BuzzFeed published a bombshell report accusing the star of running a “sex cult” out of his Chicago and Atlanta-area homes, and after the release ofSurviving R. Kellyin January.
According to those reports, the star allegedly seduced a number of young women with the promise of helping them kickstart a music career, only to “groom” them into being his personal sex objects for whom he allegedly controlled every aspect of their lives.
If you suspect domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
