A music writer who spent decades raising awareness about sexual misconduct allegations against singer R. Kelly is fighting a bid to force him to testify at Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago on child pornography and trial-fixing charges.
It’s not clear what defense lawyers at Kelly's current trial would ask DeRogatis. But in filings and public statements they raised chain-of-custody questions about how video evidence got into police hands. They also say there were indications DeRogatis shared a draft of his book about Kelly with prosecutors.
Tuesday’s filing, also submitted on behalf of The New Yorker magazine, for whom DeRogatis writes, points to rulings by a Chicago-based U.S. appellate court that forcing reporters to testify in cases they’ve covered should be done rarely and only when there are no alternatives to introducing the same information.The filing says a Chicago police detective already testified for the prosecution to explain the chain of custody of video evidence.
Calling the outspoken Kelly critic to testify could amount to “harassment or intimidation,” given that there are other ways to work the same facts into evidence, the filing argues. It also cites reports that a window at the DeRogatis family home was shot out after the Sun-Times reported on Kelly. Four years ago, Kelly released a song called “I Admit,” in which he sought to call out the writer, singing: “To Jim DeRogatis, whatever your name is/You been tryna destroy me for 25 whole years.” Kelly described himself as “so falsely accused” but added, “I admit I have made some mistakes/And I have some imperfect ways.”DeRogatis took the stand at Kelly's 2008 trial, but refused to answer questions, citing an Illinois law that shields reporters’ rights, as well the U.S.
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