The judge overseeing R. Kelly’s upcoming trial ruled that cameras will be allowed in the courthouse during the trial.
“The coverage is allowed for March 22 [the next hearing] and all subsequent proceedings,” Judge Lawrence Flood ruled Friday, allowing for video and audio recording as well as still photographs.
Last month, R. Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse pertaining to four women, including three who were minors when the alleged abuse occurred.
The singer has continuously denied that he’s been sexually or physically abusive to women and that he’s engaged in sex with underage girls.
Kelly, who was not at Friday’s hearing, did not protest the invitation of devices to document the trial, Rolling Stone reports.
“Mr. Kelly wants everyone to know what is going on in an open and transparent process,” his attorney Steve Greenberg told the Chicago Sun-Tribune. “People can form their own opinions about what they see, and they don’t have to rely on rumor and innuendo.”
Two of four R. Kelly’s accusers asked for the cameras to be left out of the courtroom in letters to the judge. According to Associated Press, they can’t be photographed or filmed without their consent, Judge Flood ruled.
“I have no interest in being a media spectacle,” H.W., one of the victim’s, wrote to Flood. Cameras will be allowed going forward, beginning with the next hearing on March 22.
