Disgraced R&B legend R. Kelly has been found guilty of child sexual abuse in his second federal trial.
The infamous tape in which he abused a 14-year-old girl has returned to haunt the 55-year-old singer who stood trial in 2008 on child pornography charges, winning an acquittal.
He then continued his successful music career after being found not guilty, as rumors of sexual abuse followed him.
In 2017, a viral Buzzfeed article featured the parents of three young women accusing Kelly of holding their daughters captive in an abusive sex cult; however, they denied the allegations.
The beginning of his downfall culminated with the 2019 Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly which renewed public interest in the singer’s alleged relationships with minors and demands for justice.
He was consequently dropped by his record label and arrested on federal charges that same year. Earlier this year, the I Believe I Can Fly singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison following his conviction on nine federal charges related to sexually abusing women and minors.
The victim from R. Kelly’s infamous tape testified against him in court
The victim in the video, identified as Jane in court, refused to testify in the trial 14 years ago.
However, according to BuzzFeed, the now 37-year-old woman testified that she is the person in the tape and that the singer had sexually abused her hundreds of times before she turned 18.
Jane testified that she lied to law enforcement about the nature of their relationship when she was a teenager to protect the singer.
Three other women, including his ex-girlfriend Lisa Van Allen, testified that Kelly sexually abused them when they were minors.
On Wednesday, R. Kelly was found guilty of sexually abusing minors, marking the second time he has been convicted of federal sex crimes this year.
The jury found Kelly guilty of three counts of producing child sex abuse images and three counts of enticing underage girls to engage in criminal sexual activity. However, he was acquitted of seven charges, including the charge of fixing a state trial on child pornography charges in 2008.
A juror suffers a panic attack watching a graphic video of R. Kelly abusing a victim
During Monday’s closing arguments, graphic descriptions of child abuse were shown in court. As a result, one juror suffered a panic attack. Per the BBC, she was dismissed and replaced with an alternate juror.
Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Pozolo went into graphic details describing how the singer urinated on an underaged girl.
“That degrading act is forever captured on that video,” she said, continuing, “That abuse is forever memorialized.”
“Who does that?” she continued. “Who uses a 14-year-old child to film a video like this? This man. Robert Kelly.”
Two other trials are pending for Kelly, one in Minnesota and the other in state court in Chicago.