Rapper R. Kelly was found guilty of three counts in the case of child pornography for filming himself sexually abusing his then-14-year-old goddaughter by a Chicago federal jury.
A recent Chicago Tribune report also suggests that apart from the indictment's 13 charges, Kelly was also found guilty of three counts of child sex trafficking through coercion and enticement.
The singer was acquitted on charges that he conspired to obstruct justice in his 2002 Cook County case. Meanwhile, he was also acquitted on two counts of receiving child pornography and one count of conspiring to receive child pornography.
In the verdict delivered on Wednesday includes the testimony of Kelly's goddaughter, who went by the pseudonym, Jane. In addition, three other women testified that Kelly had also recorded and kept the tapes of him sexually abusing them while they were underage.
The co-defendants in the proceedings included former employees Milton ‘June’ Brown and Derrel McDavid.
Furthermore, the charges against Brown and McDavid alleged a conspiracy to hide the videotapes and convince Jane to keep her sexual contact with Kelly private. The two were acquitted of all charges, that they had conspired to receive child pornography, and that McDavid conspired to obstruct justice, reported Variety.\
The closing arguments saw Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean claiming that Jane's parents were to be blamed for lying about her relationship with the singer and asserted this was not due to coercion, but because "They condoned it."
In a rather stirring turn of events, Kelly was convicted on enticement counts regarding witnesses Jane, Nia and Pauline, but was found not guilty of the latter two.
Jurors acquitted Kelly of the alleged enticement counts in relation to another woman Tracy, one of the only witnesses whose age at the time of her alleged meetings with Kelly was challenged by defence attorneys, reportedly Variety.
The court had also acquitted Kelly on one count of enticement related to Brittany, whom prosecutors had originally planned to take the stand.
However, that did not occur, and the reason for the same remains unknown.
Jane had reportedly joined the investigation just three years ago, after the airing of the 2019 Lifetime docuseries ‘Surviving R. Kelly.’ In her June verdict, Jane had made stirring testimony as she claimed that it was her on the videotapes and that Kelly had sexually abused her multiple times as a minor.
In June, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after the jury declared him guilty of racketeering related to the sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, and forced labour. Furthermore, he was also charged with eight counts of violating the Mann Act in a separate federal case in New York.
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