Following more than 25 years of accusations and a 7-week long, New York federal court trial, R. Kelly has been found guilty of sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, racketeering and sex trafficking involving five victims.
Facing a potential 10-year to a life in prison sentence, the superstar R&B singer/songwriter sat motionless as the jury foreperson presented the verdict to Judge Ann Donnelly.
Of the fourteen alleged underlying acts associated with the racketeering charge, the jury believed that the government proved twelve of those acts beyond a reasonable doubt, involving five victims – including the singer Aaliyah as well as Stephanie, Jerhonda Pace, Jane and Faith (as most alleged victims went by their first names or pseudonyms.) While two acts associated with an alleged victim named Sonja were not proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the government needed proof of only two of the racketeering acts for a guilty charge.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York successfully proved to a jury consisting of seven men and five women that the musician (born Robert Kelly) had been the head of a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to lure girls, boys and women to the R&B singer for his sexual gratification.
As he awaits May 4 sentencing, Kelly will also face a second federal trial on charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice in Illinois including accusations related to a 2008 child pornography trial in Chicago in which he was acquitted of all charges. The now-disgraced entertainer also faces outstanding criminal charges in both Cook County, Ill., where he was indicted by the state attorney in February 2019 for aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims (three of them minors), and in Minnesota, where Kelly was charged in August 2019 with engaging in prostitution with a minor.
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: Miami Police Department