R. Kelly trial: Jury convicts singer on 6 counts
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CHICAGO — R. Kelly has been convicted on multiple charges, including several child pornography counts, but was acquitted of fixing his 2008 trial on similar charges, The Associated Press reported.
The jury in the R. Kelly trial reached a verdict at the end of the second day of deliberations on Wednesday. Kelly, 55, has been found guilty of six out of 13 charges, according to The New York Times. Kelly has been found guilty of coercing three minors into criminal sexual activity and producing three child sexual abuse videos. Kelly was acquitted of attempting to fix an earlier investigation into his abuse.
The AP reported that this Chicago trial was a do-over from his 2008 pornography trial.
In the 2008 trial, Kelly was acquitted on charges of producing child sexual abuse imagery, according to the NYT. The trial was focused on a single videotape that prosecutors said had shown Kelly sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl and then urinating on her. Some of the jurors expressed to reporters after the trial that they needed the young girl’s testimony and not having it contributed to Kelly being acquitted, said the NYT.
This time around, the woman who identified herself as the young girl who was sexually abused by Kelly testified, and prosecutors showed the jury clips of that video, according to the NYT. The woman had apparently decided to cooperate with investigators in 2019 shortly after the Lifetime documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly,” came out.
Last year, a federal jury in New York found Kelly, guilty of heading a racketeering and sex trafficking scheme that for decades preyed on young women. In June, a judge sentenced Kelly to serve 30 years in prison related to the charges. On that sentence, Kelly won’t be eligible for release until he is 80 years old, according to The AP.
According to the AP, Kelly has two further trials that are pending. One of them is in Minnesota, and the other is in a state court in Chicago.
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