R. Kelly's Jail Attacker Identified, Claims 'Government Made Him Attack' Singer

R. Kelly's attacker has been identified as Jeremiah Shane Farmer, a gang member who claimed in legal documents to be the detainee behind the singer's assault in Chicago's federal jail last month.

Farmer, who has ties with the Latin Kings street gang and has murder convictions on his record, wrote in court documents obtained by TMZ that “the government made me attack” Kelly.

In a six-page document filed Sept. 1 with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the 39-year-old claimed that he beat up Kelly “in hopes of getting spotlight attention and world news notice to shed light on” alleged government corruption.

Farmer’s filing also includes a Bureau of Prisons incident report that reveals he repeatedly punched the musician in the head and torso before a prison employee used pepper spray to break up the Aug. 26 assault.

Farmer is currently being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Kelly is also detained. He was convicted last year after a jury found him guilty of killing two men with a hammer as part of a racketeering conspiracy.

Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, also confirmed to media outlets that Farmer was the detainee who attacked the singer.

In his filing, Greenberg said that Farmer assaulted Kelly because he was angry over the MCC going on lockdown due to protests supporting Kelly outside the facility.

“My understanding is, everytime there is a pro-R. Kelly protest outside of the jail, they lockdown the entire facility,” Greenberg earlier told Page Six. “When they do this, inmates don’t get their commissary, they don’t get their shower, stuff like that and since they’re fairly sporadic anyway, they get upset. So they’re penalizing everyone in the facility because people are protesting in support of Kelly.”

Kelly was arrested last year and charged with 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The R&B musician was originally set to face trial in April, but it has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He is facing child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in Illinois, as well as a racketeering indictment in New York.

Kelly's attorneys will ask for his release from federal custody on Friday, Sept. 4, CNN reported.

The singer has not met with his attorneys in person since March due to lockdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic. His lawyers are expected to argue that Kelly has been unable to prepare for his upcoming trial due to these restrictions.

“He has essentially been cut out of the discovery and preparation process,” attorney Tom Farinella, who will argue Kelly's bail appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote in a court filing.