The defense for singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, 53, is scheduled to appear in a Chicago court Wednesday in his state sexual assault case. You can watch in the player above. The hearing is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. CT.
Prosecutors said he abused a 16-year-old girl J.P., who met him at his infamous child pornography trial in 2008. She stepped forward as Jerhonda Pace née Johnson.
“His music overshadows everything when it comes to his wrongdoings,” she told BuzzFeed about her decision to speak out, and break a nondisclosure agreement between her the singer. “Nobody thinks about the damage he’s done or is doing to young women, and his personal life means nothing when it comes to executives making money off of him.”
He also allegedly abused a 16-year-old girl named H.W. Video shows him abusing a 14-year-old girl, prosecutors said.
The fourth victim–the only adult in the state charges–was hairdresser L.C. She said that Kelly assaulted her during what was supposed to be a regular appointment. She stepped forward last year as Lanita Carter.
Like Pace, she described herself as an initial Kelly supporter, and that her experience with the singer turned horrifying.
“I’m not ashamed of my past anymore,” she said. “I’m not ashamed of what naysayers say.”
Kelly faces federal charges in New York and Illinois for allegedly abusing women, and also for trying to stage a cover-up amid his child pornography case. Trials are set to begin in April and May, respectively.
He and his defense has emphatically denied claims.
“I have been assassinated,” he said in an interview with CBS. “I have been buried alive. But I’m alive.”
[Image via Antonio Perez – Pool via Getty Images]
