Former pop star R. Kelly, who has already been sentenced to a long prison term for sexual abuse, has been found guilty in another trial. A jury in Chicago found the 55-year-old guilty of having had sex with a minor and producing child pornography, US media reported on Wednesday. The jury found Kelly guilty on six of 13 counts. The sentence will be announced at a later date, Kelly faces another several decades of imprisonment.
Kelly was acquitted of seven other charges, including obstruction of justice at a previous trial. Kelly and two former associates were accused of manipulating a child pornography trial against the musician in 2008. The ex-employees were also cleared of these allegations.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison in a separate trial in New York in June for child abuse.
In his hometown of Chicago, he was now also accused of coercing and bribing a witness in an earlier trial against him in 2008 in order to avoid conviction. There was an acquittal on this point, as well as on the allegation of obstruction of justice. He was also acquitted of charges of having received child pornography and two counts of enticing minors to have sex. Two co-defendants were acquitted on all counts.
In the trial, prosecutors accused the Grammy winner of squandering his fame as one of the most well-known R
In Chicago, the charge of making child pornography alone carries a minimum sentence of ten years per charge. Kelly was found guilty on three counts. However, judges can decide whether periods of imprisonment from other proceedings are to be served at the same time or consecutively.