R. Kelly guilty of racketeering
Trial featured testimony from dozens of accusers
R&B star R. Kelly has been convicted in New York following a six-week trial featuring graphic testimony from dozens of accusers.
A jury of seven men and five women found the 54-year-old guilty of racketeering on Monday, following two days of deliberations.
The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls – and keep them obedient and quiet – amounted to a criminal enterprise.
The charges date back decades and stem from six complaining witnesses, including the late singer Aaliyah, called Jane Doe No. 1 by prosecutors. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, didn’t take the stand during his trial.
The verdict comes 13 years after he was acquitted of 14 counts of child pornography charges in 2008 by a jury that deliberated less than eight hours.
Prosecutors rested their case against the R&B singer following testimony from multiple witnesses who accuse him of sexual and physical abuse. Their accounts included profane video and audio recordings that prosecutors say document how he threatened accusers with violence.
“It is now time for the defendant, Robert
Kelly, to pay for his crimes. Convict him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes told jurors on Thursday in her closing arguments in federal court in Brooklyn.
Kelly “believed the music, the fame and the celebrity meant he could do whatever he wanted,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Shihata said in federal court in Brooklyn.
But, she added, “He’s not a genius, he’s a criminal. A predator.” She added that his alleged victims “aren’t groupies or gold diggers. They’re human beings.”
The defense hit back Thursday, telling the jury they’ve been misled by opportunistic accusers about consensual relationships.
In his closing, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick told the jury that testimony by several accusers was full of lies, and that “the government let them lie.”
Cannick argued there was no evidence Kelly’s accusers were ever forced to do anything against their will. Instead, Cannick said, Kelly’s girlfriends stuck around because he spoiled them with free air travel, shopping sprees and fancy dinners – treatment that belied the predator label.
“He gave them a lavish lifestyle,” he said. “That’s not what a predator is supposed to do.”
More than 45 witnesses testified, including five complaining witnesses who said Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.