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() — R. Kelly was convicted of multiple counts of child pornography in a federal trial in Chicago and was acquitted of others, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Kelly was convicted of three of the four child pornography counts and acquitted of conspiracy to obstruct justice charges at his 2008 trial, which stemmed from a 2002 state case.
He was also convicted of three of five counts of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, said her client had a “feeling of relief” at having put this case behind her, and felt that prosecutors had overstated their case against him. Bonjean said that she is considering filing an appeal.
“The verdict was mixed, but we won more charges than we lost,” Bonjean said outside court after the verdict. “If this jury concluded that he was guilty on the first three counts, would they care enough to consider the evidence on the rest? And they showed that they did. They did their job. They looked at each count separately.”
Jurors deliberated for about 10 hours after hearing three weeks of testimony, including from a woman who testified anonymously that Kelly sexually assaulted her and recorded the interactions when she was just 14 years old.
The woman was one of five minors prosecutors say Kelly sexually abused in the late 1990s, making explicit videos with four of them.
Kelly’s former associates were cleared of all charges they faced.
Derrel McDavid, Kelly’s former accountant and business manager, was charged with conspiracy to receive child pornography, receipt of child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Milton “June” Brown, a former assistant to Kelly, was charged with conspiracy to receive child pornography. They both pleaded not guilty.
Vadim Glozman and Beau Brindley, attorneys for McDavid, praised the verdict in a statement to .
“The jury found what we knew all along. The government presented a case that should never have been presented. It was based on the word of proven liars,” the lawyers said. “We put them in front of the jury and the jury made the right decision.”
has reached out to attorneys for Kelly and Brown for comment.
— This is a developing story and will be updated.
