R. Kelly was found guilty Monday of sexually abusing women, boys, and girls for decades, capping the stunning fall from grace of the ’90s R&B superstar.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer, 54, was found guilty on all nine counts, including racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of “any woman or girl” across state lines for an “immoral purpose.”
As the verdict was read, Kelly, who was dressed in a blue suit and a white mask, sat stone-faced next to his lawyers. At his sentencing on May 4, 2022, he faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
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“To the victims, in this case, your voices were heard, and justice was finally served. No one deserves what they experienced at his hands. Or the threats and harassment they faced,” acting US Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulist said outside court after the verdict.
A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for approximately nine hours over two days before reaching a unanimous decision.
Prosecutors painted Kelly as a “predator” who used his celebrity and a slew of employees to prey on young victims from the start of the month-long trial in the federal courthouse in downtown Brooklyn.
“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot. This case is about a predator,” Assistant US Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement last month.
Prosecutors used a network of friends and employees in Kelly’s “inner circle” to transport his victims across state lines, control their actions, and facilitate the sexual abuse to prove the racketeering charge against him.
Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York summoned a parade of witnesses to testify about the abuse the disgraced singer inflicted on them.
Accuser Jerhonda Pace was the first to testify, alleging that Kelly had sex with her repeatedly over the course of several months after the two exchanged numbers at a party at the singer’s suburban Chicago mansion when she was under the age of 18.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Kelly, allegedly became enraged at Pace during their last encounter because she was texting on her cellphone and did not address him when he walked into the room she was in, she told jurors.
After berating her, Kelly smacked her in the face and forced her to perform oral sex on him, she claimed in court. She read from a journal during her testimony, pausing at times to wipe away tears.
Pace said, “I went to Rob’s house and he called me a bitch. He said I was a silly bitch. He slapped me three times and said if I lied to him again it’s not going to be an open hand next time. He spit in my face and mouth. He choked me during an argument. I had sex with him. I had oral sex with him. I went home and confessed.”
Kelly’s attorneys attempted to portray Pace and his other accusers as hysterical fans who were obsessed with Kelly and made up stories about him because he refused their advances.
One of his victims was R&B singer Aaliyah, whom he illegally married in a Chicago hotel room when she was 15 years old in 1994. Prosecutors proved that Kelly relied on his entourage to carry out the illegal marriage activity.
In August, a former Kelly tour manager testified that he bribed a Chicago-area welfare office employee to create a fake ID for Aaliyah that listed her age as 18. Kelly had just turned 27 years old at the time.
Prosecutors claimed Kelly married Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash at the age of 22, to avoid criminal charges for having sex with a minor and to prevent 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 on a tour bus when she was 13 or 14 years old.
As the trial came to a close, defense attorneys called several witnesses, relying on Kelly’s employees and others whose careers were inextricably linked to the former star to paint him in a more favorable light.
One defense witness, music consultant Julius Darrington, testified that he worked with Kelly for several years prior to his arrest and that he did not witness Kelly abusing women while working with him in his Chicago studio or traveling across the country for shows.
Darrington testified during cross-examination that he had no knowledge of what Kelly did while he was not with him.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer for one of Kelly’s victims, spoke outside the Brooklyn courthouse following the verdict and read a statement written by her client, Sonja.
“I’m happy with the verdict, and thankful that the jury listened to us. I’ve been hiding from Robert Kelly in fear, due to threats made against me, and I’m ready to start loving my life free from fear and to start the healing process,” Sonja wrote.
Allred added: “R. Kelly is the worst for many reasons. First, he used his power of his celebrity to recruit vulnerable underage girls.”
Kelly chose not to testify in his own defense. He defended his actions, however, in a trainwreck 2019 interview with CBS News’ Gayle King, in which he hysterically declared his innocence, saying he was “fighting for my f–king life.”
The strange meeting came after a number of his victims shared their stories for the scathing docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly.”
“How stupid would it be for R. Kelly, with all I’ve been through, in my way, way past to hold somebody? Guys, use your common sense, forget the blogs, forget how you feel about me, hate me if you want, love me if you want, but just use your common sense, how stupid would it be?” Kelly told King before beginning to cry.
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After the verdict, a number of the disgraced singer’s supporters gathered in a park across the street from the courthouse to show their support for Kelly, the majority of whom sat in a courtroom with a video feed of the trial throughout its duration.
One of them, DeAngelo Brister, who claimed to be Kelly’s godson, claimed that the verdict was based on faulty evidence.
“This is totally unjustified. The testimony from his accusers … they didn’t add up. There were holes involved in it. They found someone guilty on word of mouth,” Brister said.
