R. Kelly faces decades in prison after guilty verdict in S*x Trafficking case.
R. Kelly, the 54-year-old Chicago, Illinois R&B singer has been found guilty in the ongoing S*x Trafficking Case. In the deliberation which ran for around nine hours on Monday (Sept 27), the jury found Robert Sylvester Kelly guilty of all counts against him, including racketeering, and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, the anti s*x trafficking law. R. Kelly was accused by as many as 11 people, nine women and two-man, of s*xual abuse, in exchange for help in a music career. R. Kelly will now face around a decade in prison, and his sentencing is scheduled for May 4 in New York.
Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and eight breaches of an anti-s*x trafficking law by a jury of seven men and five women following nine hours of deliberations in federal court in Brooklyn, which began on Friday afternoon. Kelly may spend the rest of his life in prison.
The acting US attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis said that the verdict sends a strong message for all the predators like R. Kelly. “Today’s guilty verdict forever brands R. Kelly as a predator who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable, and the voiceless for his own gratification,” he said.
In a statement, Kelly’s lawyer Deveraux L. Cannick said, “Of course we are disappointed in the verdict. I am even more disappointed in the prosecution for bringing this case. He was not anticipating this verdict because based on the evidence, why should he anticipate this verdict? You saw witness after witness giving three, four, five different versions as to what they said happened here.”
After the verdict, R. Kelly also issued a statement through his Facebook. “To all my fans and supporters I love you all and thank you for all the support. Today’s verdict was disappointing and I will continue to prove my innocence and fight for my freedom. #notguilty,” he wrote.
Robert Sylvester Kelly is now a convicted s*x offender as well as a singer, composer, and record producer. He’s been dubbed “the King of R&B,” “the King of Pop-Soul,” and “the Pied Piper of R&B” for his role in helping to reinvent R&B and hip hop.
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