R. Kelly Found Guilty On All Counts In Sex Trafficking Trial

R. Kelly has been found guilty of sexually abusing women, boys and girls — claims that have been made for decades.

The multi-award winning R&B artist was convicted on all nine counts against him — including racketeering and violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transport of “any woman or girl” across state lines for any “immoral purpose.”

A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about nine hours across two days before reaching their unanimous verdict on Monday.

Sources say the 54-year old sat stone-faced next to his lawyers as the verdict was read.

From the beginning of the month-long trial in the federal courthouse in downtown Brooklyn, prosecutors painted Kelly as a “predator” who used his fame and a cadre of employees to prey on young victims.

According to the New Your Post, to prove the racketeering charge against him, prosecutors showed jurors how Kelly used a network of friends and employees in his “inner circle” to transport his victims across state lines, control their actions and facilitate the sexual abuse. 

Prosecutors called many witnesses to testify.

The first to take the stand was accuser Jerhonda Pace, who said Kelly repeatedly had sex with her for several months when she was under the age of 18. She also accused the 54-year old singer of being abusive to her in the past.

Kelly’s attorneys sought to cast Pace — and his other accusers — as hysterical fans who were obsessed with Kelly and concocted stories about him because he refused their advances. 

One of his victims was R&B singer Aaliyah, whom Kelly illegally wed in a Chicago hotel room in 1994, when she was 15 years old. 

For the illicit nuptials to move forward, Kelly relied on his entourage, prosecutors showed. 

A former tour manager for Kelly testified in August that he bribed a Chicago-area welfare office employee to make a fake ID for Aaliyah that listed her age as 18. Kelly was 27 years old at the time. 

Prosecutors alleged Kelly married Aaliyah — who died in a plane crash at the age of 22 — in an attempt to dodge criminal charges for having sex with a minor and to block her from testifying against him about the abuse. 

Another witness at the trial, a former backup dancer identified as “Angela,” told jurors that she witnessed Kelly performing oral sex on Aaliyah when she was 13 or 14 years old on a tour bus they were traveling on. 

One defense witness, music consultant Julius Darrington, testified he worked with Kelly for several years and never witnessed any type of abuse.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 4, 2022. He could face 10 years to life in prison.

An attorney for Kelly, Devereaux Cannick, said after the verdict that they would likely file an appeal, but did not provide a timeline for when that could happen. 

Kelly faces more criminal charges outside New York.