Court denies requests to unseal R. Kelly court files

One week after news organizations asked the Illinois Supreme Court to unseal court documents and proceedings in R&B star R. Kelly's child pornography case, the court said no.

In a terse, two-sentence ruling issued today, the Supreme Court denied the news outlets’ motion for a supervisory order. The court gave no explanation.

The Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press first intervened in the case last month, objecting to secrecy measures imposed by Judge Vincent Gaughan. The judge has put multiple documents under seal, held four hearings that were closed to the public, and imposed a "decorum order" barring lawyers in the case from speaking about it.

"Records and proceedings in the Kelly case have not only been sealed, but also sealed without any judicial findings with respect to the reasons for secrecy," the news organizations’ lawyers wrote in asking the Supreme Court to issue a supervisory order.

But defense lawyers objected, saying releasing the information could deprive Kelly of a fair trial. The defense also said the media had waited too long to intervene.

Kelly, 41, faces child pornography charges for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. He has pleaded not guilty. Jury selection is set to start Friday.

In the meantime, some of the information under seal has come to light. The Sun-Times reported Saturday that a prosecution witness will testify to engaging in a sexual threesome with Kelly and the allegedly underage girl shown in the video.

Lawyers for the news organizations will appear before Gaughan on Thursday to argue that the documents should be unsealed and transcripts of the closed proceedings should be provided.