Friday, 16th October, the lawyers representing singer R. Kelly said that jail staff stood silently as the singer was attacked by an inmate in his cell back in August. Attorney Michael Leonard has asked for Kelly’s release from the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Illinois, yet again. Leonard wrote in court documents that inmate Jeremiah Farmer, 39, “roamed a great distance” in the facility and nobody “raised a finger” to stop Farmer from attacking Kelly, 53, until he was well into the beatdown, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “An unresolved issue remains as to whether Metropolitan Correctional Center personnel encouraged, and then allowed, a beating of Mr. Kelly to take place,” the singer’s lawyers wrote in Friday’s motion.
Kelly’s team has said that the surveillance footages support their allegations against Farmer and the jail staff. They also stated that the singer sustained “significant physical and psychological injuries” from the incident that took place on the 26th of August.
Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, alleged that Farmer crept into Kelly’s cell as he slept and stomped on his head. He also claimed that the inmate who has “F**k the feds” tattooed on his face had a pen and intended to stab the singer with the pen. Reports indicated that a prison employee used pepper spray to stop the attack, and Farmer was subsequently placed in solitary confinement later on.
Farmer, a member of the Latin Kings, was convicted last year of a racketeering conspiracy related to the 1999 murders of Marion Lowry, 74, and Harvey Sieger, 67. He was initially charged with beating the men to death with a hammer at their auto business.
Farmer had reportedly told the police that he intended to confess to the double slaying as he wants to die via lethal injection.
Farmer, who was ultimately relocated to a facility in Michigan, identified himself as Kelly’s attacker in court documents. He wrote that Kelly let out a “horrifying scream” during the assault which transpired in Kelly’s cell.