A jury has found singer R. Kelly guilty on multiple charges in connection to accusations he faced of child pornography and enticing minors for sex.
A jury found Kelly guilty on six counts in the case, while acquitting him on seven others. Kelly was found guilty of three counts of sexual exploitation of a child via production of child pornography. He was also found guilty on three counts of coercion and enticement.
Kelly was acquitted on charges that he helped rig his 2008 child pornography trial.
Kelly and co-defendant Derrell McDavid, Kelly’s ex-business manager, were also accused of fixing Kelly’s 2008 trial on state child porn charges by intimidating and paying off witnesses.
McDavid was charged with four counts — two for receiving child porn, one for conspiring to do so and one for conspiring to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, at which Kelly was acquitted. He was acquitted on those charges by the jury.
Co-defendant Milton Brown, a former Kelly associate, faced a single count of conspiring to receive child pornography, and was acquitted of the charge.
Jurors deliberated for 10 hours on the 13 different counts in the case, asking several questions of the judge and setting off a flurry of motions by defense lawyers.
Kelly faced four counts of producing child porn, one of conspiring to obstruct justice by fixing the 2008 trial, one of conspiring to receive child porn, two of actually receiving it and five of enticing minors for sex.
He was convicted on three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing minors for sex. He was acquitted on a charge of obstruction of justice, of receiving child pornography and of conspiring to receive pornography. He was also acquitted on one count of production of child pornography and two counts of enticing minors for sex.
The jury was asked to deliberate on 13 separate counts, some involving complex law and assessments of which witnesses were more believable. They began deliberating Tuesday after Judge Harry Leinenweber gave them jury instructions, including explicit descriptions of what constitutes sexual abuse.
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One asked if they had to find Kelly both enticed and coerced minors, or that he either enticed or coerced them. Over objections from Kelly's lawyer, the judge said they only need to find one.
Other questions centered on evidence, or a lack thereof, with the judge ultimately informing them that no such evidence was admitted in the trial.
Jurors sorted through a month of evidence and arguments on charges accusing the singer of producing child pornography, enticing minors for sex and rigging his 2008 child porn trial.
The singer is already serving a 30-year sentence in connection to a separate federal trial that took place in New York, where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Kelly, 55, was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison during a separate federal trial in New York where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for 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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Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mtarm and find AP’s full coverage of the R. Kelly trial at https://apnews.com/hub/r-kelly
