Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty

R. Kelly and his legal struggles will continue to mount for the unforeseeable future and deservedly so. Kelly was in court Friday for an arraignment hearing for his racketeering and sexual misconduct charges in New York and was denied bail in the process.

Variety reports:

he singer, wearing blue prison togs over an orange shirt, pleaded not guilty to the charges through his attorneys, Douglas Anton and Steven Greenberg. While he looked ahead through most of the hearing, Kelly smiled ruefully and nodded briefly at girlfriends Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, who were seated with two other associates of the singer; the two women each let out a sympathetic sigh as Kelly was led into the courtroom in prison togs. He did not address the courtroom except to tell the judge that he understood the charges against him.

Attorneys for the government claimed that if the 52-year-old singer were released on bond, he would be a flight risk with a serious danger of obstruction of justice and noted the allegations of his sexual crimes against minors. They also noted his “lengthy and wide-ranging history of criminal conduct” and said that during his 2002 child-pornography trial, of which he was acquitted in 2008, there were multiple claims of obstruction of justice — specifically “paying off and intimidating witnesses not to appear” — and noted the assistance of his “inner circle” with those obstruction claims.

The outlet adds in its reporting that among the 13 known alleged victims, five were connected to the matter in New York.

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Photo: Getty

Source: HipHopWired.com

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