Names and faces
■ Attorney Gloria Allred said Friday that she has contacted law enforcement officials about concerns that one of her clients may be the person in a VHS tape recently given to Chicago prosecutors that purportedly shows R&B star R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl. Allred, who represents multiple R. Kelly accusers, some of whom haven’t come forward publicly, spoke a day after attorney Michael Avenatti said he gave Chicago prosecutors the video. “I’ve made law enforcement in a different jurisdiction [other than Chicago] aware of my concerns that it may, in fact, be my client and I want to protect her privacy,” Allred said. Kelly has been dogged for decades with allegations of sexual misconduct. Through his lawyers, he has consistently denied them. His current attorney, Steve Greenberg, said Allred’s comments were “speculative.” Greenberg also said he wasn’t aware of any moves afoot to charge Kelly with anything. “If R. Kelly is charged with anything, we will address it in court,” he said. “I am confident he will leave through the front door.” Avenatti has said the video is not the same evidence used in Kelly’s 2008 trial, when he was acquitted on child-pornography charges. CNN reported that the nearly 45-minute VHS tape, which it said it viewed, shows a man who appears to be Kelly performing sex acts with a girl who refers to her body parts as 14 years old.
■ Retired radio talk show host Diane Rehm testified in favor of a Maryland measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor’s help, describing the misery her husband suffered during his final days. Opponents, however, say the measure is dangerous and could enable vulnerable people to kill themselves, even if they aren’t terminally ill. Rehm, a former NPR host, has supported assisted-death legislation since her husband, John, died while in hospice care in Maryland in 2014. She told a crowded hearing room filled with supporters and opponents that her husband felt betrayed that the law would not allow a physician to end his suffering, even though he only had months to live. His doctor told him he could stop eating and drinking, and that’s what he did the next day. “I sat by my husband’s side day and night for 10 days as he slowly died,” Rehm said. “You could see the agony expressed in his face, though he made no outcry and no request for water. But why did our laws infringe on an individual’s decision to die peacefully when dying was inevitable within a few months?” The measure would allow adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs, if a doctor finds they have six months or less to live. The physician must certify that the person has the capacity to make the decision, and the prescription can only be self-administered.