R. Kelly found guilty on multiple counts in sexual abuse trial, local media reports

By Brendan O’Brien and Kanishka Singh

CHICAGO (Reuters) -R&B singer R. Kelly was found guilty on Wednesday on charges of luring underage girls to have sex with him but not guilty of obstructing a 2008 state case that ended with his acquittal, according to media reports.

In his latest trial, Kelly – whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly – was found guilty on six out of 13 counts in the federal trial, CBS Chicago reported.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago convicted the 55-year-old multiplatinum musical artist of multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child, enticement of a female and possession of material containing child pornography.

Kelly is among the most prominent people convicted of sexual misbehavior during the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse in recent years.

During the five-week trial, several women took the stand and told jurors that Kelly sexually abused them when they were minors. The jury also saw a video of Kelly molesting his goddaughter, who testified that the abuse began in the 1990s when she was a teenager.

Kelly and both his codefendants, Milton “June” Brown and Derrel McDavid, were acquitted on charges that they conspired to receive child pornography. Kelly and McDavid were also acquitted on charges they conspired to obstruct justice in Kelly’s 2002 Cook County case, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The men were accused of trying to bribe and threaten witnesses in the 2008 Illinois case in which Kelly was found not guilty on 14 counts of child pornography.

In June, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on his conviction in a New York federal court on racketeering and prostitution charges. That trial amplified accusations that had dogged the singer of the Grammy-winning hit “I Believe I Can Fly” for two decades.

Kelly also faces various state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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