In his second federal trial, disgraced R&B icon R. Kelly was found guilty on Wednesday on sex offense charges, including creating child pornography and inciting minors to engage in sexual activity.
Kelly, 55, was found not guilty in 2008 in his hometown of Chicago of several child pornography, sex assault, and obstruction charges stemming from an earlier investigation.
Kelly was found guilty on three charges of child pornography and three counts of luring a juvenile by a jury in the same city. A conspiracy to obstruct justice accusation that accused him of rigging the 2008 trial was dismissed against him.
According to U.S. Attorney John Lausch, “the evidence, in this case, demonstrated terrible conduct.”
Kelly may spend 10 to 90 years behind bars.
He was sentenced to 30 years in jail after being found guilty of racketeering, breaking the Mann Act, a law against sex trafficking, and engaging in sex with minor females in a New York federal court last year.
Kelly is still facing two more trials, one in Minnesota and the other in a Chicago state court.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s defense attorney, stated that her client was “in good spirits despite a mixed verdict.”
“We won seven counts of this indictment (more than we lost),” Bonjean said on Twitter. “He is grateful for the support and the fight continues.”
Over two days and around 11 hours, the jury debated on the intricate federal case.
Prosecutors alleged that in the late 1990s, Kelly engaged in sex acts with five victims while they were all under the age of 18 and created explicit videos with four of them.
Four of Kelly’s accusers testified during the trial, according to The Associated Press.