Attorneys for longtime music critic Jim DeRogatis filed a motion Tuesday seeking to quash a defense subpoena to testify at disgraced singer R. Kelly’s federal criminal trial.
The motion, filed by DeRogatis and his current employer, The New Yorker, alleges that by subpoenaing the longtime journalist to testify, attorneys for Kelly’s co-defendant, Derrel McDavid, are trying to out his “newsgathering” on trial.
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“Because Mr. DeRogatis’ role has been as an investigative reporter, compelled testimony also is invasive as to his newsgathering methods and cumulative of the actual sources and their source materials,” the motion stated.
Lawyers for McDavid, Kelly’s former business manager, subpoenaed DeRogatis last month to testify about a purported sex tape sent anonymously to him at the Chicago Sun-Times two decades ago involving Kelly and a then-14-year-old girl.
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DeRogatis’ reporting on that tape helped break the investigation into Kelly’s alleged sexual misconduct wide open, leading to Kelly’s indictment — and eventual acquittal — on child pornography charges in Cook County. DeRogatis was called to testify in that case, but asserted his First and Fifth Amendment rights and did not answer questions.
That same videotape is one of several purported sex tapes at the center of Kelly’s current trial at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where Kelly, McDavid, and another former employee, Milton “June” Brown, are accused of conspiring to hide Kelly’s sexual misdeeds by buying back incriminating evidence and paying off or intimidating witnesses.
Lawyers for the defendants have repeatedly tried to call into question the authenticity and chain-of-custody of the DeRogatis tape, in part because copies were made at the Sun-Times before one version was turned over to police.
Last month, McDavid’s attorneys also accused the former lead prosecutor on the case, Angel Krull, of improperly communicating with DeRogatis in early 2019 using a burner email account — “piedpiper312@gmail.com” — that was attached to a pseudonym, “Demetrius Slovenski.”
According to prosecutors, Krull had a short phone conversation with DeRogatis about possibly sharing the manuscript of his book, “Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly,” then had a brief email exchange. She did not respond to subsequent emails or voicemails from DeRogatis, according to prosecutors.
DeRogatis previously told the Tribune that he was the one to initiate contact with federal prosecutors, in an attempt to cultivate sources. That effort was unsuccessful, he said.
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“Angel never gave me a damn thing. No federal prosecutor ever did,” he said.
Krull left Chicago in 2020 to care for an ailing relative and is no longer handling the Kelly case.
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Meanwhile, DeRogatis’ 10-page motion to quash the subpoena stated that multiple witnesses had already testified as to the veracity of the videotape, making his testimony unnecessary.
McDavid could take the stand in his own defense Wednesday in the final days of the disgraced singer’s Chicago federal trial. He is expected to testify that one of the tapes he’s accused of trying to buy back was in fact a video of Kelly and his then-wife — not the child pornography that prosecutors have alleged.
McDavid had been slated to testify Tuesday, but the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse unexpectedly closed due to an unspecified “operational issue.” The delay means Kelly’s trial will almost certainly stretch into next week.
