In the abuse trial against R. Kelly (54), the jury now has to decide on the guilt or innocence of the former pop superstar. After the closing speeches, Judge Ann Donnelly has the seven men and five women of the jury on Friday in New York on their upcoming task. Then the jury began its deliberations. How long this will take cannot be foreseen in advance, there are no time limits.
According to US media reports, the prosecution and defense had previously presented completely different perspectives on the case in their respective closing statements.
“For decades, the defendant has recruited and cared for women, girls and boys for his own sexual gratification. With the help of his closest confidants, he has slowly isolated these victims, established rules and imposed penalties on them,” said attorney Elizabeth Geddes, who made the closing statement for them the prosecution stopped. “Now is the time for the defendant to pay for his crimes. Convict him.”
The musician was himself a victim – of made up stories and embellished narratives about abuse, said Kelly’s lawyer Deveraux Cannick in the closing speech of the defense. In addition, he was simply an adult superstar who enjoyed his sex life. “He became a sex symbol, he became a playboy. Where’s the crime in that? Some people like crazy sex – it’s not a crime.”
Kelly, who is charged with sexual exploitation of minors, kidnapping and bribery, among other things, had previously announced that he would not testify herself. If convicted, the musician, who has been in prison since his arrest in summer 2019, faces a prison sentence of ten years to life. The process is – after cases like those of film producer Harvey Weinstein and comedian Bill Cosby – the next in the USA and worldwide much-noticed legal reappraisal of the #MeToo era.
The first allegations against the musician, born in Chicago in 1967 as Robert Sylvester Kelly, became known about 25 years ago. In 2008 he was on trial for possession of pictures of serious child sexual abuse – and was acquitted. Regardless of the outcome of the New York trial, the court will continue: The singer will have to answer in other trials in Illinois and Minnesota on similar charges.