Chicago jury convicts R. Kelly of sex crimes, including child pornography

The Chicago court proceedings, in which two of his associates were also defendants, followed a federal trial in New York last year, where Kelly was charged with racketeering and sexual abuse of women and minors for nearly 30 years. Faced with trafficking charges. after this Criminal judgmentKelly (whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly) has become one of the most high-profile figures in the entertainment industry to face legal consequences for sexual misconduct allegations that came to light as a result of the #MeToo movement. Face it.

New York prosecutors chose to follow suit. Allegations of fraud, are often involved in instances of organized criminal activity, as a means of broadening the scope of what can be presented as evidence to a jury. Prosecutors in the Chicago case — who Involved in multiple charges— which included five counts of soliciting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and six counts of child pornography — took another route, using two counts of conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation, charges that were filed in Kelly’s 2008 trial. were connected to which also took place in his hometown of Chicago.

On Wednesday, Kelly was found guilty of six of the 13 counts against him: three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity, and three counts of making child sex videos, according to the AP. He was acquitted of conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation and found not guilty of the remaining solicitation and obscenity charges. Kelly’s co-defendants, Daryl McDavid and Milton “Jon” Brown, were acquitted of all charges.

Speaking from the lobby of the Dirksen federal courthouse in Chicago, Kelly’s defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said she was “not celebrating a victory,” but was glad the jury found seven not guilty on a 13-count indictment. Count returned. As for Kelly’s reaction, Bonjean said he was satisfied the trial was behind him.

“Mr. Kelly is used to bad news,” he said. “He has a 30-year sentence, which in my opinion is excessive. He still has a lot of battles to fight.

US Attorney John Loesch also expressed mixed feelings. He noted that federal prosecutors were “pleased that Robert Kelly is finally being held accountable for his “reprehensible conduct,” but said they were “disappointed with the not guilty verdicts on the remaining counts. “

Kelly faces 10 to 20 years in prison for each child pornography charge and up to 10 years for each solicitation charge, according to Lausch.

As the hometown of Kelly, one of the most commercially successful R&B artists of the 1990s, Chicago was a complicated backdrop for the lawsuit. On Wednesday, only a handful of supporters waited outside the downtown courthouse for the verdict. They wiped away tears and shook their heads as he was found guilty on several counts.

The 2008 trial in Chicago, in which Kelly was indicted for the first time on charges of sexual abuse, resulted in child pornography allegations in 2002 that resulted in a videotape anonymously sent by the Chicago Sun-Times. was in which Kelly was shown sexually assaulting and urinating. A juvenile prosecutor believed the alleged victim on the tape was 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 to verify the girl’s identity. One of them told the Chicago Tribune After Kelly’s acquittal, it seemed as if the goddaughter’s family was “very divided over it from the beginning.”

Abdon Palash, a former Chicago Sun-Times reporter who broke the initial story about Kelly’s abuse allegations against journalist Jim Derugatis, said in court Wednesday that the verdict was vindicating.

“We know the acquittal was not deserved,” he said of Kelly’s 2008 trial.[Today’s] The verdict should send a message to young girls who have been victimized by powerful men to come forward.

Palasch said the decision is especially powerful for young black girls in Chicago who were victimized by Kelly and felt they would not be believed.

“I think a lot has changed,” he said. “I hope that has changed.”

In early 2019, Lifetime aired the six-part documentary series “Surviving Are Kelly” that detailed the stories of the alleged victims and their families. It renewed public interest in the sexual abuse allegations against Kelly and became one of Lifetime’s highest-rated programs in two years. Amidst the findings, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Fox Issued a call to come forward to potential victims and witnesses, saying “we cannot seek justice without you.”

In a Chicago trial this year, prosecutors argued that Kelly, McDavid and Brown conspired to bribe witnesses so they wouldn’t cooperate in the investigation years ago. The alleged videotaped victim, now 37, testified for hours during the trial, going by the name “Jane.” Contrary to the story he and his family have been sticking to until recently, Jane testified that he was actually the person seen with Kelly in the footage. According to CBS News. He said he previously lied to a Cook County grand jury about it, and that he ultimately decided to cooperate with investigators and talk about the time he spent with Kelly because , in her words, “I didn’t want to put up with his lies anymore.”

Jane testified that Kelly raped her hundreds of times when she was a teenager. A.P Reported that prosecutors played excerpts of the videotape for the jury that they said showed Kelly sexually abusing Jane; According to the AP, the man in the footage gives graphic commands to the girl. At one point, she asks, “Daddy, do you still love me?”

Chicago prosecutors also accused Kelly and two associates of conspiring to buy back sex tapes to cover up Kelly’s alleged misconduct. One of Kelly’s ex-girlfriends, Lisa Van Allen, a 42-year-old woman, testified in 2007 that McDavid asked her to participate in sexual activities with Kelly and Van Allen in the 1990s. should have been killed instead of being paid for the return of the videotape. minor goddess, According to the Chicago Tribune. Wayne Allen said he was pressured into the encounter and later asked the lawyer to lie.

Echoing other women who have accused Kelly of misconduct, Van Allen said she was prevented from talking to or looking directly at other men when Kelly was present, and that if she If you don’t follow his order, he will kill you.

McDavid, Kelly’s former business manager, testified in his own defense at the end of the trial. CBS News Reported Kay McDavid said he believed Kelly’s claim that Jane never sexually assaulted her, noting that Jane and her family had previously denied the allegations themselves. McDavid also denied that he was hired to buy back the tapes.

Neither Kelly nor Brown testified during the trial. In addition to the New York and Chicago cases, Kelly was killed along Charges in Minnesota 2019 for engaging in solicitation and prostitution of a minor.

Earlier this month, the following Washington Post reporting In the case, a federal judge in New York ordered the Bureau of Prisons to About $28,000 to replace Kelly’s inmate account to cover some of the $140,000 he owed in court-ordered fines. The amount includes a $40,000 fine that will be donated to a fund for victims of trafficking.

Kim Bellware reports from Chicago.