Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly, who is
serving a 30-year sentence for sex offenses, was found guilty of child
pornography charges on Wednesday after a month-long trial in his hometown of
Chicago.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester
Kelly, was convicted of three counts of producing child pornography and three
counts of enticement of a minor, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Kelly, a three-time Grammy Award-winner,
was acquitted by a federal jury of seven other counts including charges that he
obstructed justice in a previous trial, the newspaper said.
Kelly and two ex-associates had been
accused of rigging the singer’s 2008 child pornography trial in which a jury
delivered a verdict of not guilty.
Kelly’s former manager, Derrel McDavid, and
an ex-employee, Milton “June” Brown, were also acquitted on Wednesday of the
obstruction charges.
Kelly was convicted in New York in
September of recruiting teenagers and women for sex.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” artist was found
guilty of eight charges of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering in the
New York case.
Kelly’s conviction in New York was widely
seen as a milestone for the #MeToo movement: It was the first major sex abuse
trial where the majority of accusers were Black women.
It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal
consequences for the abuse he was rumoured for decades to have inflicted on
women and children.
Kelly also faces prosecution in two other
state jurisdictions.