R. Kelly found guilty on child pornography and sex abuse charges in Chicago federal trial

Disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly was found guilty Wednesday on sex crime charges, including producing child pornography and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity, in his second federal trial.

Kelly, 55, faced multiple child pornography, sex abuse and obstruction charges involving an earlier investigation that ended with his acquittal in a 2008 state child pornography trial in his hometown of Chicago.

A jury in the same city found Kelly guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor. He was acquitted of a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him of fixing the 2008 trial.

“The evidence in this case revealed reprehensible conduct,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said.

Kelly faces 10 to 90 years in prison.

He is already serving a 30-year prison sentence after he was convicted in a New York federal court last year of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law, including having sex with underage girls.

Two further trials are pending for Kelly -- one in Minnesota and another in state court in Chicago.

Following Wednesday’s verdict, Kelly’s defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said her client was “in good spirits despite a mixed verdict.”

“We won seven counts of this indictment (more than we lost),” Bonjean said on Twitter. “He is grateful for the support and the fight continues.”

Jurors deliberated for about 11 hours over two days in the complex federal case.

Prosecutors alleged that in the late 1990s, Kelly engaged in sex acts with five victims while they were all under the age of 18 and created explicit videos with four of them.

Four of Kelly’s accusers testified during the trial, according to The Associated Press.

Source - The Associated Press

-Agencies