Prosecutors Trying Not To Piss Away Another R. Kelly Prosecution

There's another pee tape, because of course there's another pee tape.

(Photo by Mike Pont/Getty Images)

A mere month removed from “Surviving R. Kelly,” it appears the singer might actually face charges for child pornography. Again. This time, we’ll see if prosecutors can avoid botching this Space Jam of a slam dunk.

As first hinted on Above the Law’s own podcast, Michael Avenatti is representing multiple clients in the ongoing R. Kelly saga and he delivered on his promise to make big news soon by dropping a graphic video of what appears to be R. Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old.

And, of course, there’s peeing.

The newly unearthed footage, which lasts 42 minutes and 45 seconds, is clear and explicit.

There are two scenes on the video: one apparently in a living room and another in a bedroom. A naked man who appears to be R. Kelly is seen performing multiple sex acts with the girl. She is heard calling him “daddy” multiple times.

It is impossible to know her age just from the video. They both refer to her “14-year-old p***y.” Six times the girl refers to her genitalia as 14 years old.

At one point, the man asks the girl to urinate. After she does, he urinates on her.

Avenatti released the tape along with the following statement yesterday, which presumably wasn’t intended just to scar everyone’s Valentine’s Day plans.

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Now the onus is upon Illinois prosecutors, the same gang who failed to convict R. Kelly the last time he was seemingly caught on tape peeing on underaged girls. It was almost exactly 17 years ago that Kelly’s first tape surfaced and sent him to trial on 14 counts of child pornography. After six years, Kelly was acquitted on all counts. Are you wondering “how could a trial on straightforward video evidence take six years?” Well, it was for a whole host of absolutely absurd reasons:

“The case has dragged on for seemingly bizarre reasons,” Time magazine reporter Steven Gray explained to NPR in 2008. “Just last December, R. Kelly failed to make a scheduled court appearance because his tour bus was stopped speeding by Utah authorities, and he couldn’t make it to court the next day. One time, Judge Gaughan, the presiding judge, he fell off a ladder and hurt himself so he was out for a while. Another time, one of the prosecutors had a baby, so that also caused some postponement.”

Could R. Kelly have gotten off in 2008 out of plain fatigue on the part of everyone involved? Well, this time it’s hard to imagine the prosecutors whiff that badly. Avenatti’s source for the video is, he says, a whistleblower from inside the Kelly orbit, and presumably the government will be able to build their case around this as yet unidentified star witness.

CNN has seen tape Avenatti says shows R. Kelly having sex with underage girl [CNN]
R. Kelly may be facing indictment on child pornography charges. Again. [Vox]

Earlier: The ATL Michael Avenatti Interview

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.