What's the latest on the sex-crime cases against R. Kelly?

Are you confused by what's going on in the multiple sex-crime cases against singer R. Kelly? Are you having trouble keeping up? Join the crowd.

Here's the latest on what we know:

What's next for R. Kelly in the short term?

Kelly, who is currently locked up in jail in Chicago, can look forward to getting out for three court hearings this month  and a fourth in early October, as the creaky machinery of state and federal criminal justice systems plod forward on separate tracks.

At the moment, and despite usual practices, it appears that the two federal cases and two state cases pending against Kelly are going to be prosecuted separately. Thus far, it's not been decided which jurisdiction will try him first or whether to merge some of the cases and try them together.

"It looks like all four teams (of prosecutors) want to move forward and want to try this case and achieve convictions; it’s unlikely all will get that opportunity," predicts Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois, now a criminal defense lawyer in federal courts in Chicago and a legal analyst for CNN and Politico, among other publications.

Is this typical?

It's not unusual to have federal and state cases pending against the same defendant at the same time. What's happening in the Kelly prosecutions is not typical, says Mariotti.

"In a typical case what would happen is the feds would come in and the state might defer its case while the federal case is on, and if there is a conviction and sentence in the federal case, then the state case might be dropped," Mariotti says.

"Here...it's not clear which federal case will be first. It's not clear that (federal prosecutors) are working with state prosecutors. The defense meanwhile may not want the Chicago federal case to go first. It's not at all clear which of the four teams wants to go first – or even if the four teams are working hand in hand."

He says it's possible that the Department of Justice will step in and decide which of the two federal cases they want to pursue first, but that doesn't mean the defense will agree or that the judges will sign on. 

Transportation issues: Will Kelly show up?

Prosecuting Kelly, 52, in this manner will require complicated efforts to avoid scheduling conflicts and securely transport him to various courtrooms in three states (Illinois, New York and Minnesota) from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago, where Kelly currently resides. 

(On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported prosecutors said in a court filing that Kelly was moved into the general inmate population despite concern other inmates could try to hurt him because of his celebrity status and because he is accused of sexually assaulting minors. His lawyers said last week Kelly had been in solitary confinement since July, calling it "cruel and unusual punishment.")

Already, there was a problem just transporting Kelly from one location in downtown Chicago to another. On Aug. 15, Kelly was a no-show for a routine status hearing in the Cook County case (multiple counts of sexual assault filed in February).

How come? "Problems" with his transportation from the MCC to the county courthouse about 8 miles away, according to lead defense attorney Steve Greenberg. County prosecutors, however, said Kelly "refused" to be transported.

“He has to be here,” an exasperated Judge Lawrence Flood said at the hearing.

Who will take R. Kelly to trial first?

Ordinarily, these kinds of procedural questions are worked out amicably beforehand by the various prosecutors and defense attorneys. So far, that's not happened in the Kelly cases. 

At the last hearing, when Judge Flood asked whether there was any agreement yet among federal and state prosecutors about which of the four cases against Kelly should proceed first, he was told that that hasn't been decided. 

“Everyone wants to go first,” Greenberg said. 

So Flood decided his trial would proceed first, as if no other cases existed. For now.

What's on R. Kelly's calendar for September?

First up is a Wednesday hearing in federal court in Chicago on the Northern District of Illinois' indictment of Kelly in July on multiple sex-crimes, including sex with underage girls, producing child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Next up is a trip to Minneapolis for a Sept. 12 arraignment on child prostitution charges in Hennepin County. Kelly is being charged with two counts of child prostitution and solicitation involving a girl under 18 for an alleged encounter in 2001.

He is expected to be quickly returned to Chicago after the arraignment because the third date in the Kelly legal diary is five days later, on Sept. 17, when he's due to return to Flood's court for another hearing in the Cook County case.

His absence last week meant Flood delayed ruling on prosecutors' motion seeking to boost Kelly's $1 million bail in the state case. It's a largely symbolic move given that Kelly is being detained without bond in the two federal cases.

Flood warned attorneys what he expects of Kelly at the Sept. 17 hearing. “I want him here for that," he said.

What about October?

There's a fourth Kelly status hearing scheduled for Oct. 2 in Brooklyn for the Eastern District of New York indictment on multiple sex-crimes, including sex-trafficking and racketeering. 

Prior to his previous appearance in New York for his arraignment on Aug. 2, federal officials in Chicago indicated there were "concerns" about transporting Kelly to New York.

At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, the acting U.S. marshal for Chicago, Jason Wojdylo, asked whether Kelly could enter a plea in the New York case by video from Chicago. The arraignment hearing was likely to be short and the flight was likely to be expensive and logistically difficult, Wojdylo said.

But the judge said Kelly had a right to stand in person before the New York federal judge. Greenberg said Kelly wanted to go to New York despite what Greenberg has said is his fear of flying. In the end, Kelly was flown to New Jersey's Teeterboro airport in the custody of the U.S. Marshals on a federal jet.

What is the defense's strategy? 

If there is one, it's not totally clear yet. It's not even clear whether Kelly's lawyers will have different strategies for the different cases.

Kelly's lawyers have said in court documents filed in the New York case that they intend to challenge some of the charges as being the result of "groupie regret" by adult women, some of whom lied about their age to make themselves older or younger, and who sought to hang out with "a superstar." 

Meanwhile, the team led by Greenberg has been racing to keep up with the developments and scheduled hearings in the cases, while trying to bat away controversies, such as a rogue "crisis manager" who said something damaging about Kelly on the "CBS Morning Show" and ended up resigning.

And Kelly damaged himself after a near hysterical interview with CBS's Gayle King in which he screamed and cried and claimed he'd been "assassinated."

Does R. Kelly need more lawyers?

Kelly claims to be broke: He couldn't come up with bail money or $160,000 in back child support without getting it from a friend.

If he has to defend himself in four different cases, he will likely need more lawyers –experienced and aggressive lawyers.

And he'll need more money, especially if he wants to hire a celebrity lawyer such as Tom Mesereau, who led Michael Jackson's successful defense on molestation charges in 2005.

Kelly has hired the respected Chicago criminal defense lawyer Michael Leonard, who will be part of one of the teams defending him in the federal case in Chicago.  

"He's a very capable federal criminal trial lawyer," says Mariotti, who knows him. 

But Mariotti says he sees no signs yet that the various lawyers signing on to Kelly's legal teams are yet working "hand-in-hand to achieve an overall strategy that is coherent and well thought out.

"And if he's short of cash, well..."

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