Nelly Looks to Get Sexual Assault Case Dismissed
UPDATE: According to a report TMZ posted on Wednesday (April 3), Nelly will not be criminally charged in the sexual assault case in the U.K.
The celebrity news outlet says law enforcement sources tell them the St. Louis rapper is off the hook since the alleged accuser is no longer talking to the Essex police. The investigation isn't closed, but the aforementioned sources say detectives are no longer actively working on the case.
Meanwhile, the accuser’s lawyer Karen Koehler tells TMZ that her client didn’t want to assist in the police’s investigation and instead is focusing on a federal lawsuit to get justice in the case.
"We told the Essex police we would no longer participate in their shoddy investigation and shifted our focus to the federal lawsuit where we will wait on the judge to decide that outcome," she says.
See previous updates, as well as the original story about Nelly wanting the sexual assault case dismissed, below.
UPDATE: Nelly's accuser believes the UK police department has tarnished the investigation of her case so much that she doesn't want anything to do with the probe anymore. According to a report TMZ published today (March 18), a lawyer for the accuser known as Jane Doe submitted a letter in which he denounces the lead detective of the Essex police and claims he treated his client more like a suspect than a victim.
In the letter, his client, who accused Nelly of masturbating and shoving his penis in her mouth after a concert in 2017, asserts that police asked Jane Doe for all photos texts and emails on her phone between herself and the lawyer. Along with attempting to violate attorney-client privilege, the lawyer also accuses the Essex police department of delaying the investigation after it took about a year for them to interview Nelly about the case.
The lawyer states that his client has already filed the suit against Nelly but neither of them will not participate in the investigation going forward.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Nelly wants his latest sexual assault case dismissed.
According to the Associated Press, the St. Louis rapper's lawyer filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from Nelly's British sexual assault accuser last Thursday (Jan. 24). The suit alleges that Nelly sexually assaulted her in a dressing room after a meet and greet after Nelly's concert in Essex in December 2017. She filed the lawsuit in November 2018.
According to Nelly's lawyer Scott Rosenblum, a “cloak of anonymity” for the accuser invites people with personal vendettas “to use the federal court system as a tool to inflict calculated harm against others’ reputations” while protecting themselves from scrutiny “that false accusations properly risk and invite.”
The request was filed after Nelly flew out to the U.K. to meet with police and seemingly offer his cooperation in the matter. Since no criminal charges have been filed, the rapper recently took the time out to meet with U.K. law enforcement officials, who interviewed him about the sexual assault accusation. Sources connected to U.K. law enforcement told TMZ that Nelly's interactions with the police were both "voluntary and helpful."
"Nelly flew to the U.K. on his own volition last week to work with the police in assisting their investigation to clear his name completely," the rapper's rep said of the matter.
The anonymous woman's attorney Karen Koehler previously said the alleged victim reported the incident to police more than a year ago. She believes the investigation is still ongoing. This latest allegation surfaced more than a year after Nelly settled with a woman who accused him of rape in September 2017.
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