A judge has thrown out a default sexual abuse judgment against R&B singer R. Kelly after his lawyers said he was illiterate.
“The defendant does not recall being served,” Kelly’s attorneys, Raed Shalabi and Zaid Abdallah, said in an April filing. “The Defendant suffers from a learning disability that adversely affects his ability to read, in essence he cannot.”
Judge Moira Johnson gave Kelly, 52 — listed in the case as “Robert Sylvester Kelly” — a second chance on Wednesday.
A woman, under the pseudonym “H.W.”, filed the lawsuit against Kelly claiming she had a sexual relationship with him when she was 16. Judge Johnson agreed to vacate judgment, but ruled the lawsuit could go forward.
In February, Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against women and underage girls. In a second unrelated court hearing on Wednesday, Kelly was forced to pay $62,000 in child support back pay.
Rumors have swirled around Kelly throughout his career about sexual misconduct. In 2008, he was acquitted of child pornography charges.
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