15/09/2022
A Chicago jury on Wednesday convicted R. Kelly of multiple child po*******hy charges in the second federal trial looking into sexual assault allegations against him, according to the Associated Press. In June, the 55-year-old former R&B singer received a 30-year prison sentence from a Brooklyn judge.
The Chicago court proceedings followed the federal trial held last year in New York, where Kelly (whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly) faced racketeering and sex-trafficking charges stemming from nearly 30 years of abuse allegations from women and minors. After that guilty verdict, Kelly became one of the most prolific figures in the entertainment industry to face legal repercussions for sexual misconduct allegations that came to light or resurfaced as a result of the movement.
New York prosecutors chose to pursue racketeering charges, often involved in instances of organized criminal activity, as a means of broadening the scope of what could be presented to the jury as evidence. Prosecutors in the Chicago case — which involved numerous charges, including five counts of enticing a minor into criminal sexual activity and six related to child po*******hy — went another route by invoking two counts of conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation, allegations connected to Kelly’s 2008 trial that also took place in Chicago, his hometown.
The 2008 trial, which marked the first time Kelly was indicted on counts related to sexual misconduct, resulted from child po*******hy charges brought in 2002 after the Chicago Sun-Times was anonymously sent a videotape that appeared to depict Kelly sexually abusing and urinating on a minor. Prosecutors believed the alleged victim in the tape to be Kelly’s goddaughter, who was a minor and refused to testify at the time; jurors voted to acquit Kelly on all counts after deciding they had no way of verifying the girl’s identity.
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