R Kelly has been convicted by a federal jury in his sex-trafficking trial, where prosecutors accused the R&B singer of exploiting his stardom over a quarter-century to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sex.
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Jurors in Brooklyn federal court deliberated for a little more than a day before voting to convict the 54-year-old Kelly on all nine counts he faced, after a five-and-a-half week trial.
Kelly kept his head down as the verdict was read on Monday, with his face shielded by a white mask.
A woman watching from an overflow courtroom cried as the verdict was read, as did others who had waited to learn Kelly's fate in a park next to the courthouse.
Deveraux Cannick, a lawyer for Kelly, told reporters that the defence was disappointed. "I'm sure we'll be appealing," he said.
Kelly faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars, and could face up to life in prison at his May 4, 2022, sentencing.
The singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is one of the most prominent people tried on sex charges during the #MeToo movement, which amplified accusations that had dogged him since the early 2000s.
Like Kelly, many of his accusers were black, differentiating the case from recent #MeToo convictions of comedian Bill Cosby and movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Cosby's conviction was overturned in June.
"We hope that today's verdict brings some measure of comfort and closure to the victims," Acting US Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis told reporters.
Kelly had been charged with one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Prosecutors said Kelly took advantage of his fame to recruit victims, including some plucked from crowds at his concerts, with the aid of people in his entourage.
Witnesses said some victims had hoped Kelly could jump-start their careers, only to find he demanded their strict obedience and would punish them if they failed.
Testimony from government witnesses graphically portrayed an unseemly side to Kelly's 30-year music career, whose highlights include the 1996 Grammy-winning smash I Believe I Can Fly.
His alleged victims included the late singer Aaliyah, who Kelly briefly and illegally married in 1994 when she was 15. Aaliyah died in a 2001 plane crash.
Many accusations against Kelly were included in the 2019 documentary Surviving R Kelly.
Several witnesses testified that Kelly instilled fear if his victims did not fulfil his every need, sexual and otherwise.
Jurors heard how Kelly would compel victims to follow "Rob's rules", including that they call him "Daddy" and get permission to eat or go to the bathroom.
One witness hoping to interview him for a radio station said he locked her up for at least two days without food or water before assaulting her.
Witnesses also said Kelly pressed accusers to write "apology letters" to potentially absolve him of wrongdoing, and concealed before intercourse that he had contracted herpes.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer for the woman who said she was locked up, alluded after the verdict to Cannick's closing argument where he invoked the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr in urging jurors to show courage and acquit Kelly.
"Despite the fact that he thought he could control all of his victims, he was wrong," Allred told reporters, referring to Kelly.
"Based on the evidence, the jury must have concluded that R Kelly is no Martin Luther King Jr."
Kelly's lawyers sought to portray Kelly's accusers as former fans who felt jilted when they fell from his favour, and that their sex with Kelly was consensual.
They also tried to show how some accusers stayed with Kelly long after the alleged abuses began, and questioned why they failed to go to the police or waited years to come forward.
Kelly still faces federal charges in Chicago on child pornography and obstruction, and state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
Australian Associated Press
