R. Kelly’s attorney is arguing that some charges against his client should be dropped due to an “unconstitutional” law in New York state that bans people with sexually-transmitted diseases from engaging in intercourse.
The embattled R&B singer has been charged with numerous sex-related offenses, including child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children.
The New York law in question states that it is illegal for anyone to have sex with another if they knowingly have an “infectious venereal disease”.
R. Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, says the law is “unconstitutional” because it infringes on the privacy of individuals and makes it illegal “to have private, consensual sexual intercourse”.
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“This statute is facially unconstitutional. It prohibits sexual intercourse by anybody who has an STD. The definition is vast, ranging from HIV to yeast infections … It includes HPV and ‘scabies,’” Greenberg wrote in the motion filed in Brooklyn.
“It does not require that the disease be passed on, nor does it allow the consenting adults to have sexual intercourse if the venereal disease is disclosed beforehand. It does not permit the use of a condom, or account for modern-day suppression drugs.”
One of R. Kelly’s alleged victims stated that the singer had given her genital herpes without telling her beforehand that he carried the disease.
R. Kelly’s trial is set to begin on October 13. He faces 13 criminal counts.
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