Yesterday, a federal jury convicted R. Kelly on child pornography charges.
The 55-year-old disgraced singer was convicted on six of the 13 counts brought against him in July 2019.
During the trial, “Jane” testified that it was her in one of the graphic videos where she referred to her “14-year-old” genitalia. She testified the singer made three sexually explicit videos with her in the late 90s.
“It had to be the way R. Kelly wanted,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannice Appenteng told the court. “And, ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls.”
However, the jury acquitted Kelly of seven other counts in the indictment: one child pornography count, one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He was also found not guilty on four conspiracy counts.
Kelly and his former business manager were accused of conspiring to coerce Jane and her family to lie to a Cook County grand jury about his relationship with the minor.
Kelly, his former business manager Derrel McDavid and former assistant Milton “June” Brown were acquitted of all conspiracy charges.
U.S. Attorney John Lausch says Kelly could face anywhere from 10 to 90 years behind bars. Prosecutors will request that his sentence be served consecutive to the 30-year racketeering conspiracy sentence he received in his New York federal case.
“When we have instances where defendants are convicted of committing horrific acts against other individuals, and it’s separate and apart from other horrific acts that he committed against other individuals, we’re asking for that (sentence) to be consecutive,” he told reporters.
Kelly still faces two pending criminal cases: one in Cook County and another in Minnesota.
