Federal Jury Convicts R. Kelly On Child Pornography Charges

R. Kelly: Guilty (Photo: Jamie Lamor Thompson / Shutterstock.com)

A federal jury in CHICAGO convicted R. KELLY on child pornography charges for making videotapes of himself sexually abusing his then-14-year-old goddaughter.

After about 11 hours of deliberation, the jury found KELLY guilty of three of the first four counts of the indictment, which charged the singer with the sexual exploitation of “JANE” for the purpose of producing child pornography. He was acquitted on a fourth count in the trial presided over by U.S. District Court Judge HARRY LEINENWEBER..

The jury reached a verdict after deliberation over two days. Each child pornography count carries a mandatory-minimum 10-year prison sentence, with the possibility that they would have to be served consecutively.

The verdict comes 14 years after KELLY’s acquittal on similar charges in COOK COUNTY, which were based on a single video of him allegedly abusing JANE in the hot tub room of his former home in the late '90s.

Prosecutors have said JANE originally lied to a state grand jury investigating that tape, claiming she wasn’t the girl depicted and that she and KELLY had never had a sexual relationship. Her absence at the 2008 trial went a long way in the jury's not guilty verdict. 

Prosecutors in the current case claimed her refusal to testify was due to a yearslong criminal conspiracy by KELLY and his co-defendants to keep her and other minor victims from cooperating with law enforcement and to buy back and cover up incriminating sex videos.

After maintaining a relationship with KELLY for years, JANE began cooperating three years ago with a federal investigation initiated after the airing of the 2019 LIFETIME docuseries “Surviving R. KELLY.”

KELLY was indicted in JULY 2019 on charges of producing and receiving child pornography, enticing minors for sex and obstruction of justice. Also charged were his former business manager, DERREL McDAVID, and ex-employee MILTON “JUNE” BROWN, both accused of assisting with the cover-up.

JANE testified for the first time last month that not only was it her on the videotapes, but that KELLY had sexually abused her “innumerable” times when she was a minor. “I became exhausted with living with (his) lies.”

In her closing argument, KELLY’s attorney, JENNIFER BONJEAN, spoke of her client’s relationship with JANE and her family, which continued far beyond her alleged abuse as a minor and was approved by her parents.

Assistant U.S. Attorney JEANNICE APPENTENG said the evidence was clear that KELLY was a serial sexual predator and that his co-defendants made the decision to help him hide it to keep his career intact and keep lining their own pockets.

“You saw how he was using her body, flipping her over, throwing her around like she was some rag doll... That’s what this case is about.”

KELLY was previously sentenced in JUNE to 30 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge ANN DONNELLY. 

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