R. Kelly has reportedly been found guilty by a federal jury in Chicago on six of 13 counts on child pornography and sexual abuse.
These include charges of producing child pornography, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive child pornography, enticing of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Per reports from Rolling Stone and The Guardian, on Wednesday (September 14) Kelly was convicted of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing minors to engage in sexual activity. Each child pornography charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years, while each enticement charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years. He was acquitted of one pornography count and of conspiracy to obstruct justice relating to an allegation he fixed his state trial in 2008 on child pornography charges.
The singer’s co-defendants – Kelly’s former business manager Derrell McDavid and former employee Milton “June” Brown – were acquitted of charges of obstruction of justice, in relation to accusations of them covering up Kelly’s history of sexual abuse.
The verdict – which took place in Chicago at Dirksen U.S Courthouse – occurred after 11 hours over two days of deliberation by jurors. It was the culmination of a five-week trial, where five women testified regarding accounts of sexual abuse by Kelly whilst they had been underage.
These included the first testimony from a woman named ‘Jane’, who testified earlier in August that Kelly had sexually abused her while she was only 14 years old. After adopting her as his “goddaughter”, the disgraced singer allegedly had sex “hundreds” of times with Jane, and produced three sex tapes involving acts with Jane, including footage that showed Kelly engaging in oral sex and urinating on her.
Police had initially investigated Jane’s case in 2000, although Jane did not testify in that case’s 2008 state child pornography trial, in which the singer was ultimately acquitted. “I was afraid,” she shared about the decision to not testify, claiming that she had developed feelings for the singer. “I wanted to protect him.”
In response to investigators that sought to interview Jane about the leaked tapes in 2002, Jane told the court that Kelly had sent her and her family to Mexico and the Bahamas, and added that the disgraced singer coached her to deny involvement during an earlier testimony.
Meanwhile, Kelly was also sentenced under enticement charges involving two other accusers, who testified under the pseudonyms “Pauline” and “Nia”. Pauline said that she had met Kelly through her “best friend” Jane when she was 14, and was encouraged by the singer during their first encounter to kiss Jane, before Kelly engaged in touching and oral sex with Pauline. In subsequent encounters, Pauline estimated she had sex with Kelly more than 80 times, as well as 60 threesomes with Kelly and Jane between the ages of 14 and 16.
Meanwhile, “Nia”, the final survivor to testify at the trial, shared her experiences meeting Kelly in 1996 when she was 15 years old. Kelly had arranged for Nia’s flight to his concert in Minneapolis, before showing up at Nia’s hotel room, where the singer told Nia to undress before fondling and masturbating over her. In a later encounter at Kelly’s Chicago studio, Nia testified that Kelly put his hand down her pants, fondling her while touching her vagina.
The sentencing marks the conclusion of the second federal trial the disgraced singer has faced. Last year, Kelly was convicted in a New York court for charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The date of his next sentencing has not yet been announced.