R Kelly verdict: What has he been charged with?
SINGER R Kelly was convicted of pornography charges in a Chicago court while two co-defendants were cleared of all charges.
The singer’s trial came a year after he was convicted of sex trafficking charges in 2021.
What was R Kelly charged with?
R Kelly, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, had his first trial in New York in 2021 where he faced faced a total of nine charges, including one count of racketeering, with 14 underlying acts that included sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery, and sex trafficking charges.
He also faced eight additional counts of violations of the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law.
Kelly was found guilty of nine counts, one count of racketeering, and eight counts of violating the Mann Act.
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The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls — and keep them obedient and quiet — amounted to a criminal enterprise.
During the trial, several accusers testified in lurid detail, alleging that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
After the verdict was reached, Jacquelyn Kasulis, acting US attorney from the Eastern District of New York released a statement regarding the singer, saying: “Today's guilty verdict forever brands R Kelly as a predator, who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable and the voiceless for his own sexual gratification."
Kasulis added that Kelly is "a predator who used his inner circle to ensnare underage girls and young men and women for decades, in a sordid web of sex abuse, exploitation, and humiliation.
"To the victims, in this case, your voices were heard and justice was finally served.”
Bonjean remains critical of women who testify in the courtroom, she said in her closing arguments in Kelly's trial.
“We are in an era of ‘believe women’ and I agree, but not in the courtroom,” Bonjean told the jury.
“We don’t just believe women or believe anything. We scrutinize. There’s no place for mob-like thinking in a courtroom.”
Bonjean told The Times she considers herself to be a feminist but said her defense of men accused of sexual misconduct toward women "will not always be consistent with sensitivity to a victim’s feelings.”
“I’m supposed to be some type of ambassador — a vagina ambassador,” she said, adding: “Seriously, I get a lot of those questions like somehow I am traitorous to women by taking on these cases.”
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However, Bonjean has received pushback for her aggressive approach to questioning women who accuse her clients of sexual misconduct.
Lawyer Debra S. Katz has represented high-profile sexual misconduct accusers told The Times: “Everybody deserves a defense, but to attack women in this way is, in my view, absolutely unconscionable."