CHICAGO — A jury has ruled in the latest trial against R. Kelly, a former R&B star accused of coercing a minor to have sex, creating child sexual abuse imagery and obstructing an earlier investigation. A verdict was reached against prosecution spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick. said Wednesday.
Kelly is already serving a 30-year prison sentence. He was convicted last year of racketeering and sex trafficking charges in federal court in Brooklyn. A jury found him guilty of leading a decades-long scheme to recruit women and underage girls for sex.
The Chicago trial focused in part on charges that Kelly sabotaged an earlier investigation into a relationship with a teenage girl. The investigation led to Kelly’s 2008 trial and acquittal of child sexual abuse charges. The ruling allowed Kelly to walk free until he faced numerous federal and state charges in New York and Illinois in 2019.
A key piece of evidence in the 2008 trial, state prosecutors said, was a videotape that showed the singer sexually abusing and urinating on a 14-year-old girl. The young woman, who is now 37, did not testify at the 2008 trial and told a grand jury years ago that she was not the one on tape. , said he was the one in the video, and said Kelly had molested her hundreds of times when she was underage.
In all, four women testified that Mr. Kelly was sexually abused when he was under the age of 18. Three of them say Mr. Kelly raped them.
As in the Brooklyn case, where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges, Kelly did not testify. His attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that the accusers and other prosecution witnesses were testifying because they sought financial benefits or protection from the government against perjury and other charges.
A 12-person juror will also announce its verdict on the charges against two of Kelly’s former employees. The two are accused of aiding Kelly’s efforts to cover up his crimes ahead of his first trial in Chicago.