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R. Kelly was placed on suicide watch after his conviction on racketeering charges.
On Wednesday (October 20), it was reported that the R&B veteran’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons placed his client on suicide watch in the first court hearing since a Brooklyn federal judge found the singer guilty. The watch has since been lifted. As per the Chicago Tribute, Greenberg made no mention of whether Kelly had shared word of harming himself, but monitoring a recently convicted inmate in the federal prison system is routine.
In September, he was convicted on all nine counts by a federal jury, including charges on racketeering, sex trafficking, and the sexual exploitation of a child. He'll face from 10 years to life in prison when he's sentenced on May 4. After his verdict, R. Kelly took to Facebook to share a message of disappointment and continued to proclaim his innocence. “To all my fans and supporters I love you all and thank you for all the support,” he wrote in the statement at the time. “Today’s verdict was disappointing and I will continue to prove my innocence and fight for my freedom. #notguilty."
His attorney, Deveraux Cannick, spoke outside the courthouse after the verdict was announced. “Of course Mr. Kelly is disappointed. He was not anticipating this verdict because, based on the evidence, why should he anticipate this verdict?” Cannick said at the time. “They totally ignored the inconsistencies that all of these witnesses gave. I don’t know if I’m more disappointed in the jury’s verdict or the government’s actions in this case. I am sure that we are going to appeal.”
Meanwhile, the singer, who has since had his YouTube accounts removed, is still facing charges of child pornography and obstruction in Chicago. That jury trial is scheduled to start August 1, 2022 and expected to last three to four weeks.