Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced that she was dropping several sexual assault and abuse charges against singer R. Kelly on Monday. The “Burn It Up” singer was already convicted of child pornography and enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity in Chicago’s federal court and is facing decades behind bars.
According to CBS News, Foxx said that her office “will no longer be pursuing these indictments.” A status hearing is scheduled for Tuesday regarding Kelly’s indictments in Cook County and Foxx is expected to formally drop four indictments. The 56-year-old is currently serving a 30-year sentence in New York for racketeering and facing decades more for sex trafficking.
“Mr. Kelly is potentially looking at a possibility of never walking out of prison again for the crimes that he’s committed,” said Foxx. “This office, in the pursuit of justice for the victims in our indictment as well as those across the country, worked tirelessly to get us to this point. While today’s cases are no longer being pursued, we believe that justice has been served and the sentences that have already been handed down to Mr. Kelly, as well as the sentence that will come down next month.”
Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean commented on the announcement and noted it would be a waste of resources to prosecute Kelly further.
“He has only one life to give,” said Bonjean. “Given the amount of time he’s already facing, it would seem to be a bad use of prosecutorial resources to continue with these cases.”
The indictments were first filed back in 2019. However, several delays due to the coronavirus pandemic stalled prosecution. The four charges being dropped include the assault of four girls, three of whom were between 13 and 16 when the alleged assaults occurred.
The victims were identified only by their initials. H.W. was allegedly assaulted between May of 1998 and May of 1999. J.P. was allegedly the victim of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse between May of 2009 and Jan of 2010. R.L. was allegedly assaulted between September of 1998 and September of 2001. The fourth victim L.C. was allegedly assaulted on Feb. 18, 2003.
Kelly’s racketeering conviction included 14 underlying acts; sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labor and bribery. The “Your Body’s Callin'” singer was also charged with violating the Mann Act. The Mann Act makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for an immoral purpose. The prosecution claimed that Kelly’s assistants and bodyguards helped him to recruit, groom and exploit underage young women, girls and boys to use for his sexual gratification.
Kelly was also convicted in a federal court in Chicago in September 2022. The singer was convicted of six counts of sexually abusing several young girls in a video, including his 14-year-old goddaughter, “Jane.” One video shown to the jury showed Kelly having sex with his goddaughter and urinating on her as she lay on the floor. The federal jury also convicted the singer of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to receive child pornography.
Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced for the convictions in Chicago next month.
