R. Kelly Found Guilty Of Producing Child Pornography & Coercing Minors Into Sex Acts
Image Credit: Antonio Perez/AP/Shutterstock
A jury deliberating in R. Kelly's federal child pornography trial at the Dirksen US Courthouse in Chicago on September 14 reached a verdict finding him guilty of making child pornography and recruiting underage females into sex activities.
The verdict was read aloud. The disgraced rapper, who is 55 years old, was found guilty of six of the thirteen charges that were brought against him. According to NBC New York, the charges that he was found guilty of include "four counts of producing child porn, one of conspiring to obstruct justice by fixing the 2008 trial, one of conspiring to receive child porn, two of actually receiving it and five of enticing minors for sex."
Other charges against him include "one of conspiring to receive child por One of the accusations that he was cleared of during his state child pornography trial in 2008 is that he attempted to rig the trial, but he was not found guilty of this offense. According to Rolling Stone, the minimum term of imprisonment for each offence is anywhere between five and twenty years.
R. Kelly: Additional Information
R. Kelly was convicted guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in 2021 at his federal trial in Brooklyn, and this new guilty decision is the second time he has received such a judgement. In June, he was given a jail term of thirty years' duration.
Related -
R. Kelly convicted of multiple child pornography and enticement charges, acquitted on others, report says
According to the Chicago Tribune, R. Kelly was found guilty of many counts of child pornography during his trial in a federal court in Chicago, although he was found not guilty on other crimes.
At Kelly's trial in 2008, which originated from a state investigation in 2002, he was found guilty on three of the four counts of child pornography, but he was found not guilty on the accusation that he had plotted to obstruct justice.
In addition, the jury decided that he was responsible for three out of the five charges of encouraging a child to engage in sexual misconduct.
Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, stated that her client felt a "feeling of relief" that this issue is now behind him and believed that the prosecution had exaggerated their evidence against him. Kelly also believed that the case against him had been overstated. Bonjean mentioned that she is thinking about submitting an appeal.
Following the announcement of the decision, Bonjean stated outside of the courtroom, "There was a mixed result, but we won more counts than we lost." "If they found him guilty on the first three charges, would they bother to look at the evidence on the remaining counts?" And they provided evidence to show that they did. They completed the task at hand successfully. They looked at every count on its own."
After listening to three weeks' worth of testimony, including from one woman who claimed anonymously that Kelly sexually assaulted her and filmed the conversations when she was as young as 14, the jurors debated for around ten hours.
The lady was one of five juveniles who prosecutors say Kelly sexually molested in the late 1990s by producing obscene recordings with four of them. Prosecutors claim that Kelly committed sexual abuse of all five of the victims.
Former friends and colleagues of Kelly's have also been charged in connection with this investigation. Derrel McDavid, who once worked for Kelly as her accountant and business manager, has been charged with conspiracy to receive child pornography, receiving child pornography, and obstructing justice while also being charged with receiving child pornography. A allegation of conspiracy to obtain child pornography has been brought against Milton "June" Brown, who once worked as Kelly's assistant.
Both defendants entered not guilty pleas.