West News Wire: Notorious R&B music icon R. Kely in his second federal trial was found guilty on Wednesday on sex offense charges, including creating child pornography and encouraging children 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.
“Reprehensible conduct was disclosed by the evidence in this instance,” the U.S. John Lausch, an attorney, said.
Kelly faces 10 to 90 years in prison.
He is already serving a 30-year prison sentence after he was convicted in a New York federal court last year of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law, including having sex with underage girls.
Two further trials are pending for Kelly one in Minnesota and another in state court in Chicago.
Following Wednesday’s verdict, Kelly’s defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said 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.”
Jurors deliberated for about 11 hours over two days in the complex 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.
