R. Kelly has been finally found guilty of racketeering – all the charges against him – by a federal jury in Brooklyn today.
According to the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times, this racketeering charge constitute 12 individual criminal acts. The disgraced singer was also found guilty of eight violations of the Mann Act, involving the transportation of a victim across state lines for criminal sexual activity, according to the reports.
Pitchfork adds:
The singer was first indicted in July 2019, and he pleaded not guilty to the charges last year. His trial began on August 18, with the prosecution presenting testimony from 45 witnesses over a span of nearly three weeks. The jury, which consisted of seven men and five women, began deliberating on September 24.
R. Kelly has been in custody since his arrest outside his home in Chicago on July 11, 2019. He is still facing federal child pornography and obstruction charges in Illinois, where a trial will be scheduled now that the New York proceedings have ended. He’s also awaiting trial on other state-level sexual misconduct charges in Minnesota and Illinois. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges against him (although in Minnesota, his legal team was a no-show), and he has consistently maintained his innocence of any alleged sexual misconduct throughout the decades. And, in 2008, Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges.
He is facing decades in prison and will be sentenced on Wednesday, May 4, 2022.
