R. Kelly has had an incurable STD for at least 20 years, but that did not stop him from spreading it around, at least that’s what the government contends.
One of the many charges leveled against the disgraced singer in his upcoming racketeering trial charges him with intentionally giving several Jane Doe’s herpes.
Earlier this week, his lawyers filed a motion in an attempt to have the charges tossed, saying herpes is technically not an STD, according to the New York State Dept. of Health and the World Health Organization.
According to his lawyers, herpes is classified as a virus, not a bacterial venereal disease.
The government replied to the motion today, and released some shocking information – R. Kelly has had herpes since 2003.
Jane Doe #4 claims she contracted herpes from him around 2009, while Jane Doe #5 and Jane Doe #6’s were purposely exposed to herpes in 2015 and 2017-18 due to R. Kelly’s practice of having unprotected sex.
But the smoking gun seems to be coming from Jane Doe # 11.
“She specifically asked the defendant whether he was ‘okay’ prior to having unprotected sex with the defendant – referring to whether he had any STDs…Jane Doe #11’s testimony that she confronted the defendant about both her herpes diagnosis and her belief that she contracted it from him is relevant to show that the defendant was on notice that herpes is an STD and that the defendant had herpes, which is directly relevant to his knowledge and intent for the charged crimes related to his exposing charged victims to herpes,” said Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, acting United States Attorney.
This is the second time R. Kelly has filed a motion relating to the classification of herpes as a virus and not a disease.
A week after the herpes-related charges were brought up, his ex-lawyer Steve Greenberg said Section 2307 of the New York Public Health Law passed in 1943 did not include the virus.
“The law does not punish the transmission of herpes, nor does it punish the failure to disclose to another that one has an STD,” Steve Greenberg argued. “Instead, it prohibits anyone who has an STD from having sexual intercourse. It is this wholesale prohibition that the government does not even attempt to address – nor can it…”
R. Kelly’s former lawyer Doug Anton Anton issued a fiery statement after the charges were first brought against the singer in March of 2020.
“These alleged victims are not victims at all, but only women who have been told and instructed, even peer-pressured if you will, years later, that the claimed relationship they freely and voluntarily engaged in, should now, in the #metoo era, be classified as ‘bad’ or ‘abusive,’ and they are continually seeking to add facts, even if not truthful, to their story, to make the alleged events as salacious as humanly possible.”
Jury selection for R. Kelly’s racketeering trial for exploiting underage girls for his sexual benefit, started today (August 9).
Opening statements are due to begin on August 18.