Prosecutors drop sex abuse charges against singer R. Kelly

A Chicago prosecutor drops sex abuse charges against singer R. Kelly after two US courts handed down federal convictions that ensure the disgraced R&B star will be jailed for decades.

ook County Prosecutor Kim Foxx announced the decision Monday, a day before a court hearing related to state charges alleging he sexually assaulted four people, three of whom were minors.

Ms Foxx said she will ask a judge to dismiss the charges at Tuesday’s hearing.

She acknowledged the decision “might be disappointing” for women who have come forward to accuse Kelly of crimes.

“Mr Kelly is considering the possibility of never leaving prison again… We believe justice has been done,” Ms Foxx said.

Since Kelly was indicted in Cook County in 2019, juries in Chicago and New York have convicted him of a range of crimes, including child pornography, seduction, extortion and sex trafficking related to allegations that he victimized women and girls.

Born Robert Sylvester Kelly, Kelly is serving a 30-year sentence in the New York case and awaits sentencing on February 23 in a Chicago federal court.

He is appealing these convictions.

Based on the New York verdict alone, the 56-year-old will only be released at the age of about 80.

Another sexual misconduct case is pending in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where the Grammy winner is facing charges.

That case, too, was suspended while the federal cases expired. Minnesota prosecutors have not said if they still intend to try Kelly.

Prosecutors sometimes choose to pursue further trials because they fear convictions elsewhere may be reversed during the appeals process. You see an opportunity for additional convictions than insurance.

Known for his hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and sex-inspired songs like “Bump N’ Grind,” Kelly sold millions of albums even after allegations of his abusing young girls became public in the 1990s.

In 2008, a Chicago court acquitted him of child pornography charges.

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Widespread outrage over Kelly’s sexual misconduct only came with the #MeToo movement and the release of the Lifetime docu-series Surviving R Kelly.

After that series aired in early 2019, Ms Foxx asked accusers to come forward so prosecutors could file charges.

She announced the indictment against Cook County months before the federal trials in New York and Chicago.

Ms Foxx’s office claimed he repeatedly sought out girls for sex, including one he met at her 16th birthday party and another who met the R&B star while he was on trial in 2008.

Federal prosecutors in New York told jurors at his 2021 trial that Kelly used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise.

Last year, prosecutors at Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago framed him as a master manipulator who used his fame and fortune to lure celebrity-loving fans, including some minors, sexually assaulted them, and then discarded them. Four accusers testified.

While prosecutors in that case won convictions on six of the 13 counts against him, the government lost count that Kelly and his then-executive director had successfully rigged his 2008 child pornography trial.