Disgraced singer R Kelly guilty of child sex crimes after filming himself abusing girl, 14

 

Convicted sex offender R Kelly has been found guilty of sexual offenses with children after he filmed himself abusing a 14-year-old girl.

The R&B singer, 55, was convicted of six out of 13 charges, including producing child pornography, soliciting girls for sex and falsifying his 2008 trial.

R Kelly - real name Robert Sylvester Kelly - is already serving a prison sentence after being convicted of extortion and sex trafficking last September.

Kelly was convicted of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of soliciting a minor.

Grammy Award three times-

The winner was acquitted by a federal jury on seven other charges, including charges that he obstructed justice in an earlier trial.

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

Kelly and his longtime manager Deryl McDavid were accused of reforming Kelly's 2008 trial by tampering with witnesses.

Kelly's former manager, Deryl McDavid, and former employee Milton "John" Brown, were tried along with the singer in the latest trial, and have also been acquitted of obstruction of business charges.

A minor victim refused to testify at the 2008 trial due to alleged threats and bribery, but this time the 37-year-old woman took the witness.

US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John Lauch, said: "The harm Mr Kelly has done to his victims is immeasurable.

"I would like to thank the victims for their strength, perseverance and courage in coming forward to testify at trial."

Excerpts from videos depicting Kelly's sexual abuse of girls as young as 14 were shown to the jury during the trial.

Prosecutors said a videotape showed Mr Kelly sexually assaulting and urinating on a 14-year-old girl.

Elizabeth Pozzolo, one of the prosecutors, said Robert Kelly abused several girls over many years.

"He committed horrific crimes against children, and he didn't do them alone."

Three other women testified, saying Kelly sexually abused them when they were minors.

A sentencing date was not immediately set.

Lauch's office said in a statement that Kelly faces a prison sentence of 10 to 90 years for the new convictions.

Asked later by reporters outside the court how Kelly felt after the ruling, his chief lawyer Jennifer Bunjian said: "Mr. Kelly is used to bad news.

He still has many battles to fight.

But what he said was that he was relieved that this particular case was in the past now.”

Kelly is also facing various state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.