R. Kelly prison attacker claimed government made him do it
8 September 2020, 16:29
The man who attacked R Kelly in his cell, has alleged the government made him physically attack the singer.
R Kelly was attacked by a cell inmate while sitting on his bed last month. The 53-year-old disgraced singer pleaded not guilty to several charges in the states of Illinois, New York and Minnesota.
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Kelly's attacker has been identified as Jeremiah Shane Farmer, 39 – who is a Latin Kings gang member – was convicted of a racketeering conspiracy last year. The charge stemmed from Farmer being involved in two murders in Indiana in 1999, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
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Farmer has since filed a six-page document with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where he has claimed that “the government made me attack” R. Kelly.
The 39-year-old man also claims he carried out the attack “in hopes of getting spotlight attention and world news notice to shed light on” alleged corruption in the government.
The "Bump 'N Grind" singer has been imprisoned for over a year at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. Kelly has been awaiting a trial on child pornography, obstruction of justice and racketeering charges in Chicago and New York City.
R Kelly was attacked by Farmer on Aug. 26 in his cell. According to TMZ, the singer was sitting on his bed in his cell when another inmate walked in and started punching him.
Sources claimed the inmate was angry that the jail had been put on lockdown due to Kelly's protesters outside.
In an incident report following the incident, an employee who met with Farmer claims he "left the office against my order to stay.”
The report has revealed that Farmer went to a space in the prison where he wasn't authorised.
The employee then went to the cell after hearing a noise, and reportedly found that “inmate Farmer appeared to be punching inmate Kelly repeatedly in the head and torso.”
The employee then broke up the fight by administering pepper spray. Just before the altercation, Farmer reported a mental health professional at the prison told him, “You don’t want to assault Kelly, if you did, you would have done it.”
Farmer revealed that he “said some disrespect back” and was told by the employee “go do it then.” He alleged that's when he was forced to attack Kelly although he was told to stop.
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