Chicago Court Jury Overturns 2008 Verdict
The ugly truth of R. Kelly (55), widely known as ‘I Believe I Can Fly’, is being revealed.
On the 14th, a jury for the Northern District of Illinois (Federal Court of Chicago) found him guilty of making three pornographic videos in which a 14-year-old girl was sexually abused in 2002.
The victim was Kelly’s goddaughter, the New York Times reported.
The Chicago Tribune reported that “the jury of the Cook County Court, which is in charge of Chicago, acquitted Kelly of the same charge in 2008,” and “the verdict was overturned after 14 years.”
Prosecutors explained that at the time of the trial in 2008, the victim denied any relationship with Kelly, saying that she was not the target of sexual exploitation in the video, and that the jury returned a not-guilty verdict.
After 11 hours of lengthy discussion, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on six of the 13 charges against Kelly. Among them, there are three cases of indictment of enticing minors to engage in sexual acts and making them into videos.
In the trial, which began last month, the victim testified that Kelly had persuaded the jury to lie to her during her 2008 trial, confirming that she was the girl in the video.
“I’m particularly happy that Kelly can finally, finally be punished for abusing her 14-year-old goddaughter,” said Prosecutor John Roche Jr. of the Northern Illinois District Attorney’s Office.
Kelly’s lawyer argued that the guilty verdict was a hasty judgment triggered by the ‘Me Too’ movement and that “Kelly is a victim of financial extortion and exploitation.”
The victim’s side took this as a weakness and extorted money from Kelly.
Since her debut in 1990, Kelly has released numerous hit songs and multiple platinum albums (records sold over 1 million copies), and was even named on Billboard’s Top 50 Most Successful Artists list in 2008.
However, since the early 1990s, he has been accused of sexually exploiting young women.
On June 29, a federal district court in Brooklyn, New York City, sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison and a $100,000 fine for racketeering and racketeering of minors.
The Chicago Tribune predicted that if convicted according to the verdict that day, up to 10 years in prison could be added.
