R Kelly guilty on child pornography charges

AN American federal jury on Wednesday convicted R Kelly of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his home town of Chicago, delivering another legal blow to a singer who used to be one of the biggest R&B stars in the world.

Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.

But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him of fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008. He was found not guilty on all three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography and for two further enticement charges.

His two co-defendants were found not guilty on all charges.

e verdict comes months after a federal judge in New York sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison in June for racketeering and sex trafficking. Based on that sentence, the 55-year-old won’t be eligible for release until he is around 80.

Two sexual misconduct trials still await Kelly — one in Minnesota and one in state court in Chicago.

Jurors on Wednesday wrote several questions to the judge, at least one indicating the panelists were grappling with some of the case’s legal complexities.

One asked if they had to find Kelly both enticed and coerced minors, or that he either enticed or coerced them. Over objections from Kelly’s lawyer, the judge said they only needed to find one.

At trial, prosecutors sought to paint a picture of Kelly as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-stuck fans, some of them minors, to sexually abuse then discard them.

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was desperate to recover child pornographic videos he made and lugged around in a gym bag, witnesses said. ey said he offered up to US$1 million to recover missing videos before his 2008 trial, knowing they would land him in legal peril. e conspiracy to hide his abuse ran from 2000 to 2020, prosecutors said.

Kelly’s associates Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown were co-defendants at the Chicago trial. Jurors acquitted McDavid, Kelly’s longtime business manager, who was accused of conspiring with Kelly to rig the 2008 trial. Brown, an associate for years, was acquitted of receiving child pornography.

Kelly faced 13 counts. A conviction of just one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, while receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years. Judges can order that defendants sentenced earlier in separate cases serve their new sentence simultaneously with or only after the first term is fully served. Federal inmates must serve at least 85% of their sentences. —

e Guardian.