Singer R. Kelly found guilty of 6 counts in child pornography case – NBC Chicago
A jury found singer R. Kelly guilty on multiple counts related to charges of child pornography and incitement to sex with minors.
A jury found Kelly guilty on six counts in the case, while acquitting him on seven others. Kelly was convicted of three counts of sexually exploiting a child through the production of child pornography. He was also found guilty of three counts of coercion and incitement.
Kelly was acquitted on charges of helping to rig his child pornography trial in 2008.
Kelly and co-defendant Derrell McDavid, Kelly’s former business manager, were also accused of rigging Kelly’s 2008 trial for child pornography by intimidating and paying off witnesses.
McDavid was charged with four counts – two of receiving child pornography, one of conspiracy to do so and one of conspiracy to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, in which Kelly has been acquitted. He was acquitted of these charges by the jury.
Co-defendant Milton Brown, a former associate of Kelly’s, faced a single count of conspiracy to receive child pornography and was acquitted of the charge.
Jurors deliberated for 10 hours on the 13 different counts in the case, asking the judge several questions and sparking a flurry of requests from defense attorneys.
Kelly faced four counts of producing child pornography, one of conspiring to obstruct justice by fixing the 2008 trial, one of conspiring to receive child pornography, two of actually receiving it and five of having encouraged minors to have sexual relations.
He was found guilty of three counts of making child pornography and three counts of inciting sex with minors. He was acquitted of obstruction of justice, receipt of child pornography and conspiracy to receive pornography. He was also acquitted of one count of producing child pornography and two counts of incitement to sex with minors.
The jury was asked to deliberate on 13 separate counts, some involving complex law and assessments of which witnesses were more credible. They began deliberating on Tuesday after Judge Harry Leinenweber gave them instructions to the jury, including explicit descriptions of what constitutes sexual abuse.
One asked if they should find Kelly both lured and coerced minors, or if he lured or coerced them. Despite objections from Kelly’s attorney, the judge said they just had to find one.
Other questions were about the evidence, or lack thereof, with the judge eventually informing them that no such evidence had been admitted at trial.
Jurors sorted through a month of evidence and arguments on charges accusing the singer of producing child pornography, luring minors for sex and rigging his 2008 child pornography trial.
The singer is already serving a 30-year sentence in a separate federal trial that took place in New York, where he was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Kelly, 55, was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison at a separate federal trial in New York where he was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Known for his hit ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ and sex-infused songs such as ‘Bump n’ Grind’, Kelly sold millions of albums even after allegations of sexual misconduct circulated in the 1990s. Widespread outrage emerged after the #MeToo reckoning and the 2019 Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly.”
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