American R&B singer, the 55-year-old R. Kellywas found guilty of luring underage girls to have sex with him, but was acquitted of obstruction of justice charges in a 2008 case that resulted in his acquittal, Reuters reported, citing US media.
In that trial, R. Kelly – whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly – was found guilty of six of the thirteen charges brought against him by a federal jury, according to CBS Chicago.
Jurors in a Chicago court convicted the 55-year-old artist of sexual exploitation of minors, seduction and possession of child pornography. The court’s verdict was announced after a total of 11 hours of jury deliberations over the past two days. R. Kelly faces a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Kelly is one of the most famous artists to be convicted of sexual offenses during the revelations of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse.
During the five-week trial, several women testified and told jurors how Kelly seduced and sexually abused them when they were minors. The jury also watched a video of Kelly sexually assaulting his godmother, who testified that the abuse began in the 1990s when she was a teenager, Reuters reported and the Athens News Agency reported. Kelly and his two co-defendants, Milton “June” Brown and Derrell McDavid, were acquitted of conspiracy to obtain child pornography. Kelly and McDavid were also acquitted of conspiracy to obstruct justice in a 2002 case, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The defendants were also charged with attempted bribery and witness blackmail in a 2008 Illinois case in which Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges.
Last June, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after a New York federal court found him guilty of extortion, sexual exploitation and forced prostitution. That trial added to the charges that have plagued the singer of the Grammy-winning hit “I Believe I Can Fly” for two decades.
Kelly also faces charges in similar cases in Illinois and Minnesota.
Source: News Beast
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