R. Kelly’s time behind bars has taken a troubling turn, as his attorney now alleges the singer almost died after being given a dangerous combination of medications by prison staff.
According to legal documents filed by his lawyer, Beau Brindley, the 58-year-old collapsed in his solitary confinement cell at a North Carolina prison shortly after receiving what’s described as an excessive dose of anxiety medication. Brindley claims Kelly had been issued his prescribed medication on June 10, the day he was placed in isolation. However, he was reportedly given an additional dosage later in the day when a prison staff member came to his cell.
By June 13, Kelly had lost consciousness and was rushed to Duke University Hospital, where he was admitted and remained under observation for two days before being discharged and taken back to the prison.
“This was no mistake,” Brindley said in the filing. “It was a dose that jeopardised his life and nearly ended it.”
Alongside the overdose claim, Brindley raised accusations of a murder plot targeting the singer. He alleges that three prison officials, identified as a warden, an assistant warden, and a third unnamed staffer, attempted to arrange R. Kelly’s death using a terminally ill inmate.
That inmate, Mikeal Glenn Stine, stated in a sworn declaration that he was approached in early 2023 to carry out the attack. Stine claimed he had previously carried out assaults and killings of other inmates at the direction of a prison official. However, he could not bring himself to kill R. Kelly. He said that after watching the singer for some time, he ultimately decided against it but chose to tell Kelly everything. “I told him that I had been sent to kill him. I told him how and by who,” Stine wrote.
Citing both the overdose and the alleged murder conspiracy, Brindley filed an emergency motion for Kelly’s release, arguing that his continued imprisonment places him in constant danger.
“Time is now of the essence,” Brindley warned, calling the circumstances a violation of R. Kelly’s constitutional rights.