Dave Byrnes Profile picture
Aug 16 11 tweets 7 min read
Day 2 of #RKelly's federal trial in Chicago is underway. First order of business this morning: Late last night Kelly's co-defendant Derrel McDavid moved to dismiss the charges against him, arguing the U.S. Attorney's Office waited years too long to prosecute. @CourthouseNews ImageImageImageImage
McDavid faces several of the same child porn production/distribution charges as #RKelly, but is also cited in the federal indictment as one of the main people responsible for allegedly covering up videos depicting Kelly taking part in sex acts with minors. @CourthouseNews Image
Presiding judge in #Rkelly's case, Harry Leinenweber, defers McDavid's motion to dismiss until after the conclusion of the trial. He claims he needs more time to assess its merits. "I'm of the view that the motion is probably too late," Leinenweber says. @CourthouseNews
Getting into jury selection, R. Kelly's attorneys again ask judge Leinenweber to be cognizant of potential jurors who have seen the 2019 docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly," which he agrees to.
Jury selection underway in Day 2 of the #RKelly trial. Judge Leinenweber says jury selection may conclude later today, in which case he wants to move straight to opening arguments. Catch is there probably won't be time for both sides to present their arguments. @CourthouseNews
Several attorneys say they'd rather both prosecution and defense read their opening arguments on the same day, but Leinenweber says he wants to move the trial along as fast as possible if jury selection concludes this morning or early afternoon. #RKelly @CourthouseNews
911 is being called to the federal courthouse in Chicago where #RKelly's criminal trial is underway. A potential juror has apparently had some kind of medical emergency. Jury selection has been momentarily suspended. @CourthouseNews
Jury selection is resuming in #RKelly's Chicago trial. Potential juror 69, an older Black woman, fainted while being questioned by judge Leinenweber. She has been escorted out of the courtroom by paramedics. @CourthouseNews
Judge Leinenweber is consistently asking potential jurors in #RKelly's case if they know anything about the anti-sexual abuse #MeToo movement, on the concern that those sympathetic to / knowledgeable of the movement may be biased against Kelly. @CourthouseNews
Jury selection is still underway in #RKelly's federal trial in Chicago. Since a 911 call this morning for a potential juror who fainted in court, the process has been slow and uneventful. Still, the judge in the case wants to begin opening arguments this afternoon, if possible.
Jury selection for #RKelly's federal trial in Chicago is on hold until 1:55 p.m. CST. There are still a handful of potential jurors the judge wants to question, after which a jury panel (& reserve jurors) will be finalized and we'll be ready for opening arguments. @CourthouseNews

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More from @djbyrnes1

Aug 17
Opening statements expected today in #RKelly's federal trial in Chicago. Jury selection finished yesterday afternoon, with the jury consisting of 2 white men, 2 Black men, 4 Black women and 4 white women. @CourthouseNews
First news of the day from presiding judge Harry Leinenweber in #RKelly's federal trial in Chicago: one juror has called in sick and two are stuck on the train. @CourthouseNews
#Rkelly's trial proceedings are going to be delayed for about 30 minutes, Judge Leinenweber says, while the court waits for the jury to assemble. @CourthouseNews
Read 57 tweets
Aug 16
Jury selection has resumed in the #RKelly federal trial in Chicago with potential juror #96. At least six more jurors are needed for the panel, but presiding judge Harry Leinenweber said "the next six don't look so promising." @CourthouseNews
As he suggested, federal judge Leinenweber has dismissed potential jurors #96 - #100 in the #Rkelly Chicago trial for reasons ranging from "intense anxiety" to political opposition to police and courts. One dismissed individual also advocated for abolishing the IRS.
Federal Judge Harry Leinenweber has announced that no opening statements will be read today in #RKelly's Chicago trial. Leinenweber had hoped to at least get to the prosecution's opening statement by this afternoon, but more time is needed to empanel the jury. @CourthouseNews
Read 4 tweets
Aug 15
R. Kelly's federal trial in Chicago is set to start today at 10 am CST. While Kelly was already convicted of sex trafficking and sentenced to 30 years in prison by a Brooklyn federal court in June, he still faces child porn charges in Chicago. Full story to come @CourthouseNews
Trial has begun with jury selection arguments. R. Kelly's attorneys want to remove any jurors who saw the 2019 docuseries "Surviving R. Kelly." Lead R. Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean said "it is a fiction... that anyone [who saw the series] could be impartial." @CourthouseNews
Presiding Judge Harry Leinenweber said he will take the argument into consideration when questioning jurors, but largely disagrees that merely seeing the series is enough to bar a juror. @CourthouseNews
Read 13 tweets
Mar 10
Court has resumed in Jussie Smollett's sentencing hearing. Smollett was convicted in December of five counts of criminal disorderly conduct, for supposedly staging a bogus hate crime against himself in January 2019. @CourthouseNews
Prosecution now presenting a victim impact statement on behalf of the City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department: "This has cost the city well over $100,000 dollars... during this period [of investigation] police and detectives put in over 1,000 hours [of labor]."
V.I.S., cont.: It claims that Smollett falsely reporting hate crimes will have "a tremendous chilling effect" on real hate crime victims coming forward; also asks for the city and CPD to be reimbursed for the costs of the $130k+ investigation into Smollett's claims.
Read 53 tweets
Mar 10
Smollett's sentencing has begun in Chicago. Defense attorneys are making arguments for why they believe Smollett should be granted a new trial. First and foremost, they claim Presiding Cook County Judge James Linn lacks jurisdiction over the case, and always has. @courthousenews
They claim Cook County Judge Michael Toomin overstepped his authority in appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Smollett's case in August 2019, seeing as Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx had already dropped the county's charges against Smollett that March.
"It was a violation of Mr. Smollett's rights to re-prosecute him" for effectively the same charges he faced (and had dismissed) in early 2019, defense argues, claiming it was a due process violation and a form of Double Jeopardy - facing two punishments for the same crime.
Read 21 tweets
Dec 10, 2021
Follow up on the #JussieSmollett trial: special prosecutor Dan Webb says he and his legal team worked this case pro bono. "We made the decision, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it for the public," Webb says.
He also clarifies the one count on which Smollett was found not guilty: it was a count of falsely reporting an aggravated battery. Specifically it was for the report he made to detectives two weeks after his initial report, that his attackers were wearing masks.
The press scrum around Webb is asking if Smollett should face perjury charges for lying on the stand. Webb says he'll bring it up at sentencing, but otherwise doesn't know.
Read 14 tweets

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