R. Kelly found guilty of child pornography and other offences in Chicago

|HT|

Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly, who is serving a 30-year sentence for sex offenses, was found guilty of child pornography and other charges on Wednesday after a month-long trial in his hometown of Chicago.

Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticement of a minor.

The three-time Grammy Award-winner was acquitted by a federal jury of seven other counts, including charges that he obstructed justice in a previous trial.

Kelly and two ex-associates had been accused of rigging the singer's 2008 child pornography trial in which a jury delivered a verdict of not guilty.

Kelly's former manager, Derrel McDavid, and an ex-employee, Milton "June" Brown, were tried alongside the singer in the latest trial and were also acquitted of obstruction charges.

The 12-person jury took around 11 hours over two days to deliver the verdicts, which could add additional decades in prison to the 30 years Kelly is already serving.

A minor victim declined to testify in the 2008 trial because of alleged threats and bribes, but the now 37-year-old woman took the witness stand this time.

"The guilty verdicts finally hold Robert Kelly accountable for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl, and they help right the wrongs that occurred in a prior prosecution in Cook County," the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John Lausch, said of the 2008 trial.

"The damage Mr. Kelly inflicted on his victims is immeasurable. I want to thank the victims for their strength, perseverance and courage in coming forward to testify at trial," he added.

No sentencing date was immediately set. Kelly faces 10 to 90 years in prison for these new convictions, Lausch's office said in a statement.

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