R. Kelly asked for a new trial and to be acquitted late Thursday, trashing his old lawyer as incompetent. In a motion for a new trial filed in federal court in Brooklyn, Kelly’s new attorney Jennifer Bonjean, who argued Bill Cosby’s successful appeal, wrote that his previous legal team “fell apart mere weeks before the commencement of trial.” The disgraced R&B singer claims he had ineffective assistance from his old counsel, who were “unable to effectively represent” him. For example, during opening statements, Kelly’s former lawyer asked the jury to “find my client guilty... I mean not guilty.” Bonjean wrote in another motion challenging Kelly’s racketeering conviction that federal prosecutors had been inflamed by #MeToo: “Invigorated by an influential social movement determined to punish centuries of male misbehavior through symbolic prosecutions, the government brought a RICO prosecution against the Defendant that was ‘absurdly remote’ from the drafters’ intent.” Prosecutors must respond by March 10.
