R. Kelly convicted on child pornography charges in Chicago, acquitted of trial-fixing
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For the second time in 12 months, R. Kelly has been convicted of sex crimes in federal court.
The disgraced R&B star, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking in June, was found guilty of three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement in his hometown of Chicago on Wednesday. But he was acquitted of other charges having to do with obstruction of justice.
The verdict came after two days of jury deliberations. As in Kelly's federal trial in New York last year, he did not address the court or testify in his own defense.
TANNEN MAURY/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock R. Kelly walking to court in Chicago in 2019
EW has reached out to Kelly's attorney for comment.
Chicago was also the site of a previous Kelly trial, in 2008. That trial was for child pornography charges related to an infamous video that allegedly showed him urinating on an underage girl. After the girl chose not to testify and Kelly pleaded not guilty, the singer was acquitted.
That girl, known pseudonymously as "Jane," did testify during this trial that it was indeed her being abused by Kelly on the tape, and that the musician had abused her "innumerable" times when she was a minor.
"I became exhausted with living with his lies," she said on the stand when asked why she decided to come forward after so many years.
This latest trial was almost a sequel to the 2008 one: Among the charges Kelly faced were allegations that he and his then-business manager Derrel McDavid rigged the previous trial by bribing and intimidating witnesses like Jane. But they were acquitted of those charges of obstruction of justice, and McDavid was additionally acquitted of conspiracy to receive child pornography; he was not convicted of anything by the jury. Another former Kelly associate, Milton Brown, was also acquitted of conspiring to receive child pornography.
Kelly now awaits his sentencing for his latest conviction, though it's already clear that he's set to be behind bars for a long time.
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