On Thursday, a Chicago federal judge found R. Kelly, 56, guilty of child pornography and sentenced him to twenty years in prison; however, 19 of those decades will be held indefinitely with an earlier 30-year sentence.
The singer was found guilty by a jury in Chicago, Illinois, on three charges of producing child pornography & three counts of luring a child into unlawful sexual activity in September.
Five children testified against Kelly under aliases at his Chicago trial claiming he abused them in the 1990s; one of them said that Kelly began performing sex acts with them when she was 14; some of these acts were filmed .
Essential Context
Kelly’s entire career has been marred by allegations of sexual assault. While he was rising to fame inside the 1990s with R&B hits like “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Bump N’ Grind,” he was also engaging in some troubling behaviour and facing some troubling accusations.
Such as his 1994 marriage to Aaliyah (which had been annulled months later due to her being young) and lawsuits decided to bring against him due to having inappropriate sex with minors.
In the late 2010s, Kelly came under scrutiny again when a Buzzfeed News investigation claimed he led a “cult” in which he emotionally or sexually exploited 6 women (Kelly eventually denied the allegations).
More criticism ensued, with the hashtag #MuteRKelly trending on social media and leading to additional women coming forward with charges against Kelly.
The six-part documentary series titled ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ A docuseries on Lifetime detailing Kelly’s alleged abuse of women began in January 2019, user’s interaction with women who have made allegations of abuse against him.
Kelly received widespread anger from former colleagues, celebrities, and individuals on social media because of the series, and his record label dropped him later that month. Kelly faced several counts of child sexual abuse when he was arrested the following month in Illinois.
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The Essentials Of The Case
Judge Ann Donnelly said at sentencing that Kelly’s crimes were “calculated and carefully orchestrated and regularly implemented for almost 25 years” before he was convicted inside a New York national court of accusations of racketeering as well as sex trafficking last year, adding 10 years to the 30-year sentence he received at that time.
There were 45 witnesses summoned by the prosecution during the New York trial; 11 of them claimed that Kelly had sexually or physically assaulted them, while others testified that Kelly had been involved in arranging the marriage of the late singer Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, in the 1990s.
After decades of sexual abuse allegations, litigation, and charges, Kelly was finally convicted of these crimes in federal court.
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Donnelly stated at Kelly’s 2022 sentencing that Kelly could have altered his behaviour after that little trial, but instead, “just one thing users took from that trial has been ways to hem ones victims in [with quasi agreements].”
Referring to the 21 count data of child porn that were filed against him in 2002 by an Illinois jury trial for a videotape that reportedly showed someone to having sex to an underage girl.
The allegations that Kelly had sex with kids resulted in a number of lawsuits against him all throughout 1990s and 2000s.
To name a few, in 1996, Tiffany Hawkins sued Kelly, claiming he had intimate relations with her while she was 15 when he turned 24, in 2001, Tracy Sampson, a former intern at Epic Records, sued Kelly, claiming he repeatedly raped her since she was 17, and in 2002, Patrice Jones sued him, claiming he impregnated her and then forced her to have an abortion.
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What Did Other People Think Of These Vile Conclusions?
Since the girl in that video didn’t testify, some jurors felt compelled to acquit Kelly in his 2008 trial. During the federal trial at Chicago, Jane admitted to lying to a county jury trial in 2002 when she maintained that it wasn’t her on the video. She claimed that she lied because she cared about Kelly and didn’t want to see him in trouble.
Jane said that their first sexual encounter occurred when she was 15 years old. She responded softly, “Uncountable times,” when asked number of times twice they have intercourse before she turned 18. Hundreds.”
Kelly was charged with five charges of luring juveniles for sexual activity, four counts of manufacturing child pornography, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, and four counts of creating child pornography.
In total, McDavid faced four charges: two counts of obtaining child porn, one count of conspiring to do so, and one count of conspiracy to stop the investigation by manipulating the 2008 hearing, at which Kelly got acquitted.
Conclusion
Kelly, who was convicted of extortion and sex trafficking of New York in September and is already receiving a 30-year jail sentence, has taken yet another major tumble with this conviction.
