R. Kelly’s Lawyer Compares Him to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. During Closing Arguments in Sex Abuse Case

In closing arguments in his sex abuse trial, R. Kelly’s attorney said that the music mogul was forcing the government to be held accountable, just like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did when he was leading the great campaign for civil rights.

Kelly, who was arrested in 2019, has been accused of a long list of sexual abuse crimes allegedly perpetrated against multiple male and female victims. Attorney Deveraux Cannick attempted to put a pious spin on Kelly’s defense. In his closing arguments, Cannick was heard saying that, like the famed civil rights leader, Kelly was forcing the government to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, just like King did when he fought the government over civil rights, the New York Post reported.

Cannick even quoted from King’s famous speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” and noted that both Kelly and King mounted protests against the government to bring fairness to all the people. “Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press,” Cannick proclaimed in the court room.

Like King, Cannick said Kelly was trying to force the government to “be true to what’s on paper.”

Cannick went on to say that the prosecution’s claim that Kelly “recruited” women for his pleasures was false and that the government induced witness to lie on the stand.

Not all of Kelly’s lawyers have been so effusive. In June, two of his attorneys quit the case because they felt it was “impossible” to defend him for what he has been alleged.

Prosecutors also recently wrapped up their case asking jurors to “make Kelly pay” for his actions.

“It is now time to hold the defendant responsible for the pain he inflicted on each of his victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said in her closing statements on Thursday. “It is now time for the defendant, Robert Kelly, to pay for his crimes. Convict him.”

Geddes added that Kelly had so manipulated the women in his circle that their wills had been “broken.” Referencing a graphic sex video shown to the jurors, Geddes reminded jurors of the scene where Kelly purportedly grabs a young woman by the hair and forces her to perform oral sex on a man “because her will had been broken.”

Cannick, though pushed back on that by insisting that none of the women in question had ever been forced to do anything against their will. All the graphic videos the jurors saw, Cannick claimed, were consensual.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.