by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
Jennifer Bonjean says prosecutors improperly used the RICO statute against the singer-songwriter.
Jennifer Bonjean, who represents Kelly, was at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to try to persuade the panel of three judges that her client was imprisoned after having the wrong statute used to convict and jail him. She argued that the RICO statute, which was written to shut down organized crime, was used against Kelly. In her plea, Bonjean stated that the interpretation of the statute as it was used against Kelly meant that many legitimate organizations — even college fraternities — could be recognized as racketeering organizations under the same law.
Bonjean refuted it. “This was not a collection of people who had a purpose to recruit girls for sexual abuse or child pornography,” she said. “Whether they turned a blind eye, whether some of them suspected that some of these girls were underage, that’s a whole different matter.”
She elaborated, “And once we get into that sort of territory, where we’re going to say that constitutes a RICO enterprise, well, we have a lot of organizations — we have a lot of frat houses — we have all types of organizations that are now going to become RICO enterprises.”
The judges have not ruled on the appeal yet.
Source: Black Enterprise
