Just In: R Kelly Found Guilty Of All Nine Counts In Racketeering And Sex Trafficking Trial, Faces Life In Prison
R. Kelly, R&B superstar who has long been trailed by accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse, has on Monday been found guilty of all counts in a high-profile sex-trafficking case.
Robert Sylvester Kelly, 54, was accused of running a Chicago-based criminal enterprise that prosecutors say he used to ‘target, groom and exploit girls, boys and women‘ for unwanted sex and mental torment.
Read Also: R. Kelly Groomed Girls For Decades, Trial Hears
The ruling by a jury of seven men and five women after three days of deliberation capped a six-week trial that featured hours of graphic testimony from the singer’s accusers.
The jury began deliberating federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges against the superstar on Friday in Brooklyn, after prosecutors and defense attorneys finished their closing arguments.
R. Kelly has now been found guilty of all nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking and now faces between 10 years and life in prison.
During his trial, Kelly best known for the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case but did not take the stand in his own defense.
Prosecutors accused the R&B singer of exploiting his stardom for nearly three decades to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sex.
The witnesses said Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. Incriminating audio and other recordings were also shared in the courtroom.
Kelly’s alleged tactics included confining victims in hotel rooms or his recording studio, managing when they could eat and use the bathroom, and forcing them to follow various “rules,” including demanding they call him “Daddy.”
The guilty verdict follows 21 days of evidence including 50 witnesses and hours of searing testimony.
To convict Kelly on racketeering, jurors had to find him guilty of at least two of 14 ‘predicate acts‘ — the crimes elemental to the wider pattern of illegal wrongdoing.
Disturbing testimony intended to prove those acts included accusations of rape, druggings, imprisonment and child pornography.
He was also charged with multiple violations of the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport anyone across state lines ‘for any immoral purpose.’
Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that Kelly’s accusers were ‘indoctrinated‘ into his world, groomed for sex and kept in line by ‘coercive means of control‘ including isolation and cruel disciplinarily measures.
They argued that Kelly, with the help of members of his entourage, used tactics from ‘the predator playbook‘ to sexually exploit his victims.
‘The defendant set rules, lots of them, and he demanded complete obedience,’ Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said during closing statements Wednesday.
Many of his accusers shared stories echoing that tone, saying they met the singer at concerts or mall performances, and were handed slips of paper with Kelly’s contact by his entourage.
Several said they were told he could help them achieve careers in the music industry.
The singer did not testify in his own defense during the trial, likely to avoid a damaging cross-examination.
The defense, however, argued that his accusers lied in their testimonies and that Kelly was a ‘sex symbol‘ and ‘playboy‘ who was being attacked by scorned exes and money-hungry fans.
Kelly’s trial centered around six women: Jerhonda, Stephanie, Faith, Sonja and a woman who testified under a pseudonym, along with the R&B star Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Kelly was considered one of the kings of R&B. He was widely credited with helping to redefine the genre with popular tracks like “Bump N’ Grind,” “I’m a Flirt (Remix)” and the “hip-hopera” project “Trapped in a Closet.”
However, the singer’s alleged behind-the-scenes behavior attracted greater public scrutiny with the rise of the #MeToo movement, leading to the #MuteRKelly social media campaign, boycotts of his records and protests across the country.
“Surviving R. Kelly,” a Lifetime documentary series released in 2019 that featured testimony from several accusers, intensified calls for the singer to face legal consequences for his alleged pattern of abuse.
Kelly was previously acquitted on child pornography charges in 2008. The singer also faces charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
