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U.S. District Judge Martha M. Pacold canceled Friday's scheduled
arguments in Chicago, and instead issued a five-page ruling
denying his emergency request to serve his time on home
detention during a temporary furlough.
Born Robert Sylvester Kelly, the 58-year-old Grammy-winning R&B
singer is serving sentences at a prison in Butner, North
Carolina, for child sex crimes and racketeering.
Pacold noted that federal courts have only limited power in such
cases, and one by one she examined and rejected various ways
Kelly's request could be considered.
“Jurisdictional limitations must be respected even where, as
here, a litigant claims that the circumstances are
extraordinary,” Pacold wrote. "Kelly has not identified (nor is
the court aware of) any statute or rule that authorizes the
court to exercise jurisdiction. Thus, the court cannot award
relief in this case.”
Kelly claimed in a series of filings this month that prison
officials solicited white supremacist leaders to kill him, to
halt the disclosure of information damaging to prison officials.
Kelly's attorney says he was then moved to solitary confinement
and purposely given an overdose of medication, which required
hospitalization and surgery for blood clots.
Pacold noted that Kelly offers no evidence to back up his
claims. Government lawyers suggested Kelly had spun a “fanciful
conspiracy.”
Known for such hits as “I Believe I Can Fly,” Kelly was found
guilty in Chicago in 2022 of three charges of producing child
sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors
for sex. In New York in 2021, he was found guilty of
racketeering and sex trafficking. He is serving most of his
20-year Chicago sentence and 30-year New York sentence
simultaneously.
His appeals have been unsuccessful, including to the U.S.
Supreme Court. Kelly has also sought President Donald Trump’s
help.
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