The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that a spat betwen a former lawyer for R. Kelly and a judge may delay the start of Kelly’s child-sex trial, scheduled to get going May 9.

The lawyer is asking a higher Illinois court to delay the trial. According to the story, Adams is a “renowned  criminal defense lawyer” who wanted to join Kelly’s legal team (of which his son is already a part), but the judge in Kelly’s case, Vincent Gaughn, wouldn’t allow it:

In his court filing, Adam said he balked at Gaughan’s insistence he sign an order agreeing to reinterview witnesses before trial. Since Adam would not sign it, Gaughan refused to let him participate in the case.

Adam called Gaughan’s rules “an unwarranted and unconstitutional interference” with Kelly’s right to counsel.

Kelly’s case has already been a six-year-plus circus. He’s accused of filming himself having sex with a girl who police said was 13 or 14 at the time. (The tape also shows him urinating in the girl’s mouth. According to news reports, the tape also has footage of Kelly having sex with a different young girl, but she has never been identified.)

Kelly was arrested again in 2003 after Florida police found digital photos of him having sex with a different young girl, but those charges were eventually thrown out. Kelly also married a 15-year-old girl in 1994; the marriage was annulled after word got out. Local Chicago papers have published allegations from more than a half-dozen other girls who said Kelly seduced them.