Topline
A Chicago jury found R. Kelly guilty of child pornography for taping his sexual encounters with underage girls, according to multiple reports, just months after the R&B singer was sentenced to three decades in prison in a separate sex trafficking case.
Singer R. Kelly leaves the Leighton Courthouse following his status hearing, in relation to the sex … [+] abuse allegations made against him, on May 07, 20src9 in Chicago, Illinois.
Getty Images
Key Facts
Kelly was convicted on six of the src3 criminal charges brought against him by federal prosecutors, including counts of child pornography and child enticement for coercing three minors into criminal sexual activity and producing three child sexual abuse videos, according to the New York Times and other outlets.
He was acquitted on charges of receiving child pornography and obstruction, which stemmed from accusations he impeded on an earlier investigation, and two co-defendants—Kelly’s former employees Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown—were found not guilty, according to Chicago TV station WGN.
Kelly could face several years in prison, following a 30-year sentence handed down in June when he was convicted of sex trafficking in federal court in Brooklyn.
Kelly previously stood trial in Chicago over accusations he produced an explicit video featuring a src4-year-old girl in 2008, but jurors acquitted Kelly and later told media outlets the lack of testimony from the victim made a conviction difficult, according to the Times.
The victim decided to cooperate with investigators in 20src9, shortly after the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly premiered, and during the trial this year, she testified that Kelly told her to lie to a 2002 grand jury and deny her appearance on the tape and their sexual relationship (three other women also testified that Kelly abused them before they turned src8).
Key Background
Kelly, known for his hits “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Ignition,” has been the center of rumors about his relationships with underage girls since the src990s. In src994, then-27-year-old Kelly married Aaliyah, an up-and-coming singer who was only src5 at the time, in an illegal ceremony. Kelly was charged separately for child pornography in Chicago in 20src9 and sex trafficking in New York in 2020, and pleaded not guilty to all charges.