New Lawyer Who Happens To Specialize In Plea Negotiations Joins R. Kelly's Team

CHICAGO (CBS) R. Kelly has a new lawyer on his team who happens to specialize in plea negotiations.

CBS 2 spoke by phone Monday with attorney Jeffrey Steinback. He said he has already met several times with Kelly in the federal lockup in Chicago.

Steinback said he took the job because he believes Kelly is "a human being deserving of an opportunity to be heard."

Kelly has been in federal custody since July 11, when he was arrested in connection with two separate federal cases in Chicago and New York. There is also a case in Minnesota.

The federal charges in Chicago accuse Kelly of producing and receiving child pornography, obstruction of justice, and coercing minors to engage in sex. Two of his former employees also face charges of trying to help Kelly cover up those crimes.

According to the charges in Chicago, Kelly sexually abused five girls in the late 1990s, made videos of four of the victims, and then paid hush money and made threats to cover up his sex crimes.

The charges also include allegations he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover tapes of him sexually abusing the girl at the center of his 2008 child pornography trial and coerced the victim to lie about what happened.

Meantime, the New York charges against Kelly stem from five women and girls who are identified only as "Jane Does" in court documents. The alleged incidents date back to 1999.

The New York indictment specifically charges Kelly with five felony counts, including racketeering and Mann Act violations, which involve transporting a person across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity. The racketeering case also accuses him of kidnapping, sexual exploitation of a child, and forced labor.

Federal prosecutors said Kelly and his managers, bodyguards, and other employees acted as a criminal enterprise to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly. Kelly and his enterprise would pick out women and girls who attended his concerts and other events; and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly. He would later hold them against their will, according to the feds.

Once the women and girls Kelly had picked started staying with him, he and his employees would set rules his victims had to follow, including not leaving their rooms without Kelly's permission, even to eat or go to the bathroom; not looking at other men; to wear baggy clothing whenever they weren't with him; demanding absolute commitment to Kelly; and calling the singer "Daddy."

Kelly allegedly coerced some of the girls he'd abused to engage in sexually explicit conduct on video, which he later had shipped across state lines.

Kelly is also facing multiple sexual assault charges in Cook County. He was first indicted on 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse in February, accusing him of abusing four different victims. In May, prosecutors filed upgraded charges involving one of those victims; including aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The four aggravated criminal sex assault charges are class X felonies and carry prison terms of up to 30 years if he's convicted.

Kelly also faces prostitution charges in Minnesota.

He has pleaded not guilty to each and every charge.