CHICAGO – R&B star R. Kelly made his 9 a.m. appearance Thursday in Cook County Criminal Court for a hearing he missed Wednesday, but he’s not out of the woods yet.

While Kelly avoided the arrest with which he had been threatened, Judge Vincent Gaughan said he will decide Friday whether to revoke Kelly’s bond or withdraw the court’s permission for him to continue his concert tour. At the same time, Gaughan said, he would set a trial date on the singer’s child porn charges.

Gaughan noted that he was “very disappointed” in Kelly’s no-show, particularly because he had earlier given Kelly a break in agreeing to move Kelly’s hearing date from Tuesday to Wednesday for “financial reasons.”

Kelly didn’t make Wednesday’s hearing because Utah state troopers this week pulled over his tour buses for speeding. Kelly is in the middle of a 45-city tour to support his “Double Up” album.

When Kelly failed to appear Wednesday, prosecutors asked Gaughan to issue a bench warrant for Kelly’s arrest.

Kelly, who created the hit music video series “Trapped in the Closet,” is allowed to travel out of state with the court’s permission but is required to check in with the court’s pretrial services department. An official with the department told Gaughan on Wednesday that Kelly had been complying with rules.

Kelly’s attorney, Edward Genson, had said the singer was en route to Chicago from a tour stop in Sacramento, Calif., when he was delayed by snow. To make matters worse, Genson said, Kelly’s concert caravan was stopped for speeding in Utah.

Cameron Roden, public information officer with the Utah Highway Patrol, said Kelly’s four tour buses were traveling on Interstate Highway 70 near Green River when they were pulled over for speeding at 7:55 a.m. Tuesday.

Roden did not know the exact speed of the buses, but “I heard it was pretty fast,” he said. The drivers were cited for speeding, Roden said.

At the traffic stop, an officer also discovered an alleged violation in the buses’ logbooks. Genson said the books had not been properly filled out to show how long the drivers had been driving and therefore did not indicate whether they had sufficient rest.

Roden said the buses were put out of service for eight hours as required by federal law. Genson said the buses went to a nearby motel as a local lawyer managed to get the restriction reduced to three or four hours.

In any case, while the buses were detained, Kelly himself was not.

“He was free to go,” said Cameron Roden, public information officer with the Utah Highway Patrol. “If he wanted to arrange for other transportation, he was free to do so.”

The delay was but one more in a case that is heading into its sixth year.

Kelly, now 40, was charged with child pornography in 2002. The time-consuming tango between the prosecution and defense has produced seemingly endless pretrial motions. A long-awaited Sept. 17 trial date was pushed back indefinitely.

Kelly is accused of videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl. Prosecutors have said the girl could have been as young as 13 at the time. The R&B star faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Kelly has denied the charges.

The girl alleged to be in the sex tape has testified before a grand jury that she is not the person on the tape. Prosecutors are expected to call relatives and friends who will identify her as the victim.

Kelly’s is expected to perform at the United Center on Friday.

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AP-NY-12-20-07 1513EST