R. Kelly’s second attempt to be released from federal jail over the coronavirus pandemic has been denied despite several cases of COVID-19 at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly, who denied Kelly’s first request earlier this month, ruled Tuesday that the embattled singer remains a flight risk and could possibly “intimidate prospective witnesses” if he’s released.
 Donnelly  said….”The defendant continues to downplay the risk that he might flee, citing his attendance record in connection with the 2002 state criminal charges against him.”
One of Kelly’s attorneys, Mike Leonard, said he’s “disappointed” with the judge’s decision.
Kelly is locked up in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago awaiting trials on multiple sex-crime charges in four jurisdictions in three states, including in the Northern District in Illinois and in the Eastern District of New York.
On April 7, Donnelly denied Kelly’s first request for release on grounds that he had demonstrated “no compelling reasons” for a temporary release and he remains a “flight risk.”
At the time of the first request, there were no inmate cases of COVID-19 at the MCC.