R. Kelly’s Chicago trial on federal sex abuse charges has been delayed until October after prosecutors revealed authorities “very recently” seized a cache of over 100 electronic devices belonging to the singer.
At Thursday’s arraignment hearing at a Chicago courthouse, Kelly once again pleaded not guilty to the revised 13 federal charges against him, which now include allegations involving a new accuser dubbed “Minor 6.”
However, during the hearing, prosecutor Angel Krull hinted that additional charges from “yet another victim” might arise in the coming months after federal agents executed a search warrant and seized more than 100 hard drives, iPads and cell phones that Kelly kept at a suburban Chicago storage facility, the Associated Press reports.
“We expect that they’re not going to find anything incriminating,” Kelly’s lawyer Steve Greenberg told reporters after the hearing of the devices. To provide federal agents with enough time to search through the electronic devices, Kelly’s Chicago federal trial was pushed from April 27th to October 13th; the singer’s Brooklyn trial on federal trial is set to begin July 7th.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the hearing was attended by dozens of Kelly supporters, and that a fight between two unidentified men nearly broke out in the hallway prior to the hearing.
Kelly, who is currently in federal custody without bail in Chicago, attended Thursday’s court date but did not speak for the entirety of the 45-minute hearing; his lawyers entered the not guilty plea for him.