R. Kelly convicted of multiple child pornography and enticement charges, acquitted on others | CNN
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R. Kelly was convicted of multiple child pornography charges. Chicago Federal Trial And acquitted others.
Kelly was convicted on three of four counts of producing child pornography and three of five counts of engaging a minor in criminal sexual activity.
He was acquitted on two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to obtain child pornography, as well as two counts of obtaining child pornography.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, said her client was “relieved” that the case was now behind him, and felt that prosecutors had exhausted their case against him. Bonjean said she is considering filing an appeal.
“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 showed that they did. They did their job. “They looked at each count separately,” Bonjean said outside court after the verdict.
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours after hearing three weeks of testimony, incl A woman who testified anonymously. that Kelly sexually assaulted her and recorded conversations when she was 14 years old.
The woman was one of five minors that prosecutors allege Kelly sexually assaulted in the late 1990s by making explicit videos of four of them.
Kelly’s co-defendants, Darrell McDavid and Milton Brown, were acquitted of all charges they faced.
McDavid, Kelly’s former accountant and business manager, was charged with conspiracy to obtain child pornography, possession of child pornography and obstruction of justice. Brown, Kelly’s former aide, was charged with conspiracy to obtain child pornography. Both pleaded not guilty.
McDavid’s attorneys, Vadim Gluzman and Beau Brindley, praised the verdict in a statement to CNN.
“The jury found what we all knew. The government brought a case that should never have been brought. It was based on the word of proven liars,” the lawyers said. “We exposed them to the jury and the jury made the right decision.”
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Kelly and Brown for comment.
A witness in the trial, a 37-year-old woman, spoke on behalf of Jane in federal court and testified that Kelly began having sex with her when she was 14 and when she was 15. Had sex with him. He said he had sex “hundreds” of times before he was 18.
Jane testified that she met Kelly through her aunt, Sparkle, who worked with and had a romantic relationship with R. Kelly. Jane was 12 or 13 when she met the singer.
At the time, Jane toured the world with a Christian hip-hop group whose members were her cousins. Prosecutors asked him not to name the group to protect his identity.
Soon after they met, Jane said she started spending more time with Kelly and Sparkle. She would watch Kelly and Sparkle record music and talk to Kelly about basketball and music. Jane testified that she was 13 years old when Sparkle suggested that Jane ask Kelly to play a bigger role in her life.
Jane testified that Kelly became her godfather, at which point her parents felt comfortable letting her stay at their house overnight or even for weekends without her parents or aunt.
“They would drop me off and then leave,” Jane testified.
Jane said she was 14 when her relationship with Kelly became sexual and that she lost her virginity to him when she was 15.
When the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services began investigating Kelly’s alleged sexual relationship with Jane in April 2000 when she was 15, Jane testified that she denied the relationship. He also testified that he later denied to Chicago police investigators that he and Kelly had had sex.
Jane, her parents and Kelly met for a meeting after reports surfaced in 2002 about the existence of a tape showing the couple engaging in sexual activity. She said Kelly admitted to her that he had had sex with her daughter.
Jane and her father received a subpoena in 2002 to testify before a grand jury. Jane testified that before appearing before the grand jury, she had a conversation with Kelly about “faithfulness” and “our relationship and denying the sex tape.”
Jane testified that she lied to a grand jury in 2002 when she denied having sex with the singer and appearing in sex videos.