Prosecutors convicted him of six counts, many of which carry long mandatory sentences. But the government missed the mark—that Kelly and his then-business manager successfully settled his child pornography trial in 2008. After deliberating for 11 hours over two days, jurors convicted Kelly of three counts of producing child pornography and solicitation, while acquitting him of obstruction of justice, one count of producing child pornography and three counts of receiving child pornography. Both of his co-defendants, including longtime business manager Derrel McDavid — who had told jurors that the testimony of four of Kelly’s accusers led him to change his mind about Kelly’s credibility — were acquitted of all charges. The trial was, in some ways, a follow-up to the 2008 trial, with a key video for both. Kelly, who shed tears of joy when jurors acquitted him in 2008, waved to onlookers after Wednesday’s verdict but otherwise showed little emotion. Before Kelly returned to federal lockup, McDavid embraced the Grammy-winning singer, who rose from poverty on Chicago’s South Side to become a superstar. The verdict comes after a federal judge in New York sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison in June for extortion and sex trafficking. Under that sentence, the 55-year-old won’t be eligible for parole until he’s in his 80s.
2 more tests coming up
Two sexual harassment lawsuits still await Kelly – one in Minnesota and one in state court in Chicago. Prosecutors in the federal trial in Illinois portrayed Kelly as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to corner star fans, some of them minors, into sexually assaulting and then dumping them. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was desperate to retrieve pornographic videos she made and was packing a gym bag, witnesses said. They said he offered up to US$1 million to recover the lost videos before his trial in 2008, knowing they would put him in legal jeopardy. The conspiracy to cover up his abuse lasted from 2000 to 2020, prosecutors said. Among the charges McDavid was acquitted of was conspiring with Kelly to rig the trial in 2008. Milton Brown, Kelly’s other co-defendant and associate for years, was acquitted of the child pornography charge. Only one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. A judge could order Kelly to serve a new sentence concurrently with, or only after, the full first term is served. Federal prisoners must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. During closing arguments, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, likened the government’s testimony and evidence to a cockroach and her case to a bowl of soup. If a cockroach gets into soup, he said, “you don’t just take the cockroach out and eat the rest of the soup. You throw away the whole soup,” Bonzan told jurors. “There are too many cockroaches,” he said of the prosecution’s case. The three defendants called only a handful of witnesses over four days, including McDavid. In her closing rebuttal, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng cited testimony that Kelly’s inner circle became increasingly focused on doing what Kelly wanted as his reputation blossomed in the mid-1990s. “And ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls,” he said. Four of Kelly’s accusers testified. Some cried when they described the abuse, but otherwise spoke calmly and confidently. A fifth accuser did not testify.
