Chicago prosecutor dropping R. Kelly sex abuse charges as singer serves long sentence

A Chicago prosecutor said on Friday that he will drop charges of sexual assault against the singer R. Kelly, following federal convictions in two courts that should guarantee the disgraced R&B star will be locked up for twenty.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced the decision a day before a hearing related to state charges accusing him of abusing four people, three of whom were minors. He said he would ask a judge to dismiss the charges Tuesday.

Foxx, who in 2019 called on women and girls to come forward to sue Kelly, admitted that the decision was “disappointing” for the accusers.

“Mr. Kelly is looking at the possibility of not getting out of prison again for the crimes he has committed,” the prosecutor said, referring to his federal conviction. “While the current case is no longer being pursued, we believe justice has been served.”

Since Kelly was indicted in Cook County in 2019, federal juries in Chicago and New York have convicted him of crimes, including child pornography, seduction, racketeering and sex trafficking related to allegations that he victimized women and girls.

The case is pending in Minnesota

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is serving a 30-year prison sentence in the New York case and is awaiting sentencing on February 23 in Chicago federal court. He appealed the conviction.

Based on New York’s ruling, a 56-year-old is not eligible for parole until he is about 80 years old.

Foxx said he contacted Kelly’s attorney two weeks ago to indicate that the charges could be dropped. He also spoke to the woman whose allegations are at the heart of the case.

Foxx paid tribute to the “courage it took to move forward.”

A message seeking comment from Kelly’s attorney was not immediately returned.

Prosecutors sometimes choose to pursue more trials because of concerns that convictions elsewhere could be overturned on appeal. They see the opportunity for additional trust as insurance.

“We’re not doing a monetary cost-benefit analysis,” Foxx said, noting that the resources used for the trial could now be used “in advocacy for other survivors of sexual abuse.”

Another sexual misconduct case is pending in Hennepin County, Minn., where the Grammy Award winner faces plea charges. The case is also on hold while the federal case plays out. Minnesota prosecutors have not said whether they still plan to take Kelly to trial.

Known for its smash hits I Believe I Can Fly and for songs such as Bump n’ Grind, Kelly sold millions of albums even after allegations of abuse of young girls began to circulate publicly in the 1990s. He overcame child pornography charges in Chicago in 2008, when a jury acquitted him.

Outrage over Kelly’s sexual behavior didn’t emerge until the #MeToo reckoning and the release of the Lifetime documentary. Long live R. Kelly in early 2019.

Prosecutors described the singer as a master manipulator

Foxx announced the Cook County charges months before the federal cases in New York and Chicago. Foxx’s office said he repeatedly sought out girls for sex, including one he met at his 16th birthday party and another he met the R&B star during a 2008 trial.

Federal prosecutors in New York told jurors at a 2021 trial that Kelly used an entourage of managers and aides to meet the girls and keep them compliant, an operation that prosecutors say amounted to a criminal enterprise.

Last year, prosecutors in Kelly’s federal court in Chicago described him as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to lure the star’s fans, some of them minors, to sexually abuse them and then dispose of them. Four prosecutors testified.

While prosecutors in the case won convictions on six of the 13 charges against him in the case, the government lost the marquee number – that Kelly and his business manager succeeded in creating child pornography trials in 2008.