R. Kelly's Legal Reckoning Reaches Whole New Level

After decades of accusations and weeks upon weeks of court proceedings, R. Kelly has finally been slapped with another round of charges.

In September 2021, the rapper, who used to be one of the biggest names in the R&B scene, was found guilty of nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering, per The New York Times. For years, the disgraced singer had built a reputation of being a predator but somehow kept managing to dodge the allegations made against him. He finally got what was coming to him when he was later sentenced to 30 years in prison. "These crimes were calculated and carefully planned, and regularly executed for almost 25 years. You taught them that love is enslavement and violence," U.S. district judge Ann Donnelly said during the sentencing (via The Guardian).

On top of already being convicted in New York, Kelly's also facing charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice in his hometown of Chicago. It's somewhat a do-over of his child pornography trial from 2008, in which he was acquitted of all charges, per NPR. And now there's finally a verdict, delivering a new wave of legal repercussions for Kelly.

R. Kelly found guilty of child pornography and enticement

Just three months after receiving a 30-year prison sentence, R. Kelly was convicted of another round of sex crime-related charges. The singer faced 13 counts, two of which were for receiving child pornography, four for producing child pornography, five for enticement of minors for sex, one for conspiracy to receive child pornography, and one for conspiracy to obstruct justice. On Wednesday, September 14, he was found guilty of six of those charges: three counts related to child pornography and three counts related to sexual enticement, per The Washington Post.

Over the course of the trial, Chicago Tribune reports that the jury had been shown clips of Kelly abusing "Jane," and in one of them, Kelly instructed her to refer to her "14-year-old" genitals. Jane also testified that she had been on the receiving end of sexual abuse "innumerable" times when she was a minor, with the singer taking her to his home, studio, hotels, and other places. When asked why she's choosing to break her silence now, she simply said: "I became exhausted with living with (Kelly's) lies."

Kelly's new convictions could add years to his imprisonment. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the Chicago state slaps a minimum of 10 years for one count of child pornography alone. A judge may ask him to either serve his new sentence and his previous sentence simultaneously or wait until the first term is served.