R. Kelly found guilty on six counts related to child pornography

The disgraced artist is potentially facing nearly 30 more years in prison, though a sentencing date has not been set

By AV Club Staff  |  September 14, 2022 | 10:44pm
Aux News R. Kelly
R. Kelly found guilty on six counts related to child pornography
R. Kelly Photo: Antonio Perez – Pool via Getty Images

A few months after being sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York for charges related to racketeering and illegally transporting people across state lines, R. Kelly has been found guilty in another court case. This time, in Chicago, Kelly has been convicted on six of 13 counts involving child pornography, with four of the six specifically involving—as prosecutors argued—Kelly filming himself having sex with underage girls. One victim, identified only as Jane, was also involved in Kelly’s 2008 trial on similar charges, though she declined to testify that time (which was reportedly a factor in his acquittal).

A WGN report on all of this has extensive details on Jane’s testimony for this trial, including how she met Kelly, how often Kelly had sex with her, allegations of how he pressured her to keep what he was doing to her a secret, her account of videos shown to the judge and jury during the trial, and the ways she said Kelly tried to keep her family away from law enforcement after they found out what he was doing.

The report also says that Kelly was acquitted on several related counts during this trial, specifically one child pornography count, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and four conspiracy counts. Kelly’s former business manager Derrel McDavid and his former assistant Milton Brown were also charged as part of this indictment, though they were both acquitted of the charged against them.

WGN notes that child pornography cases like this have an average sentence of 23 years in prison, though a sentencing date for Kelly has not been set yet. He is also currently awaiting trial on two other criminal cases, another in Chicago and one in Minnesota, but those were both put on hold while these other cases were taken care of.

If you or someone you know is suffering from sexual abuse, contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673

 
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