R. Kelly Convicted of Federal Child Pornography Charges

It took the jury 11 hours to find R. Kelly — who was facing 13 counts — guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.

Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted on federal child pornography charges on Wednesday.

According to the Chicago Tribune, it took the jury 11 hours to find the singer — who was facing 13 counts — guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement. These charges carry a minimum of 10 years in prison. 

Kelly was acquitted on a fourth pornography count. He was also acquitted on a conspiracy obstruct charge, related to his 2008 child pornography case. He was also found not guilty on three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography. Kelly had two codependents: Milton “June” Brown and Derrel McDavid. They were both acquitted on all charges. (McDavid was a business manager for Kelly who was accused of conspiring to rig the 2008 trial. Brown was an associate of Kelly accused of receiving child pornography.)

At the heart of the trial was the infamous sex tape that was widely spread throughout the early 2000s. The woman, who was 14 at the time of the tape and who was his god daughter, took the stand early on, alleging that that she had sex with the artist "hundreds" of times before she turned 18.

The woman, who is known only by the pseudonym "Jane," is now 37-years-old testified that she was the young girl in the infamous explicit video at the center of Kelly’s 2008 trial, to which he was acquitted of all charges. During two days on the witness stand, Jane tearfully recollected the experience, which was filmed at the singer’s former home in Lakeview, Chicago. 

Jane also testified that her parents eventually confronted Kelly and that he dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness. Jane was one of four accusers who testified — Jane, Nia, Pauline and Tracy. (All of them used pseudonyms.) There was also a fifth accuser, Brittany, but she did not testify.

According to NPR, the trial wrapped up in an odd manner, when Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean compared the government's evidence to a cockroach and its case to a bowl of soup.

"If a cockroach falls into soup... you don't just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup," she said. "There are just too many cockroaches."

That argument was not pervasive to jurors. 

Earlier this year,  R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted on nine sex trafficking counts.