R. Kelly had to appear in court to face federal jury on Wednesday. The R&B hit maker at one time was convicted on six charges. The charges are a mix of child pornography and sex abuse.
The superstar singer was acquitted on conspiracy to obstruct justice and a fourth pornography charge. R. Kelly was accused of altering his 2008 child pornography trial with the state of Chicago. Kelly was also found not guilty to receiving child pornography. Kelly has already been convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York. Which he faces a 30 year prison sentence.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly's attorney, said her client had a "sense of relief" that this case is now behind him, and felt that prosecutors had overblown their case against him. Bonjean said she is considering filing an appeal. "There was a mixed verdict, but we won more counts than we lost," Bonjean said outside court following the verdict. "If this jury concluded that he was guilty on the first three counts, would they care enough to consider the evidence on the rest? And they demonstrated that they did. They did their job. They looked at each count separately."
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours after listening to three weeks-worth of testimony, including from a women that testified anonymously that Kelly sexually abused her and recorded the interactions when she was as young as 14. As reported in CNN News.
The key witness of the prosecutors' case, 37-year-old woman who used the pseudonym "Jane," testified early that Kelly sexually abused her hundreds of times starting in 1998 when she was 14 and Kelly was around 30.She also testified that Kelly and his associates threatened and paid off her and her parents to lie to a grand jury before the 2008 Cook County trial. Kelly was eventually acquitted in that case, which involved a video that allegedly showed Kelly abusing underage Jane. After acquitting Kelly, jurors said they had no choice because the girl did not take the witness stand at that trial.
In closing arguments prosecutors call R. Kelly a super star that used his stardom and wealth to manipulate and abuse his victims. R. Kelly is 55 years old facing more than thirty plus years in prison.
This is an on going developing story. Updates will be provided.
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