*R. Kelly now officially has a new defense team–less than a month before his trial’s scheduled to begin– and one of his lawyers is already getting attention. As previously reported, two of R. Kelly‘s longtime attorneys–Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard–filed to withdraw from the singer’s case last month. It appears as though the filing was done in response to tensions within the larger legal team, as Steve Greenberg tweeted:
“We refused to try a case with lawyers who don’t have the appropriate level of experience and skill because that is not in the client’s best interest. It is a shame that lawyers can’t suppress their own egos or self interest and do or act in the client’s best interest.” Now, a judge has officially granted the lawyers’ request to get off the case. Yesterday (Thursday, July 15th), U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly approved Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard‘s request to withdraw. As such, they are officially no longer part of R. Kelly‘s defense team.
Despite Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard‘s request barely being approved, R. Kelly‘s case had already been essentially taken over by his new attorneys–Thomas Farinella, Nicole Blank Becker, and Deveraux Cannick. This new defense team recently accused R. Kelly‘s now-former attorneys of withholding paperwork and denying the singer access to mental health services. However, Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard vehemently denied these allegations–causing the internal feud to rage on.
Meanwhile, during a recent pre-trial hearing Nicole Blank Becker referred to two of the women connected to R. Kelly’s case as “girls”, which Judge Donnelly made clear is inappropriate. She told the lawyer to call them “women.”
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