In his federal child pornography trial, R Kelly was found guilty.
Following a month-long trial in his hometown of Chicago, the humiliated ’90s R&B star, 55, was found guilty on Wednesday on six of the 13 charges against him.
It comes after Kelly, actual name Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced to 30 years in jail in June after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in a separate federal case in Brooklyn.
Following an 11-hour trial in Chicago that began on Tuesday afternoon, the jury found him guilty.
Kelly was accused of manipulating his 2008 state trial on child porn charges, for which he was found not guilty, and of filming himself having sex with young females.
Derrell McDavid, his co-defendant and Kelly’s former business manager, was accused of two counts of obtaining child porn and of conspiring to obstruct justice by fixing the 2008 trial.
Milton Brown, a co-defendant who was a friend of Kelly’s, was charged with conspiring to obtain child porn.
According to CBS Chicago, both have been found not guilty on all charges.
Elizabeth Pozolo, an assistant US attorney, told the jury, “Robert Kelly molested several females over a long period of time.
He perpetrated heinous atrocities against children… After all these years, Robert Kelly’s secret self has finally surfaced.
Graphic films showing Kelly assaulting his then-14-year-old goddaughter were among the damning evidence against him. This witness, who testified under the name Jane, became the prosecution’s key witness in the case.
Before the jury went home for deliberations, Pozolo made the following statement during her closing remarks: “That kid, who had never had any sexual encounters before in her life, was forced to lie on that floor while that guy sitting directly over there urinated on her.
“That film will always show that humiliating conduct. This abuse will always be remembered.
Jane, who is now 37, testified that Kelly engaged in sexual activity with her “many times,” including with other adolescent females he urged her to bring into their relationship.
Witnesses for the prosecution were labelled “perjurers, blackmailers, and extortionists” by Kelly’s legal team.
Kelly’s 30-year sentence might increase by years as a result of the latest conviction.
The singer is also facing two other trials, one in Minnesota and the other in a Chicago state court.