Prosecutors in Chicago will no longer pursue R. Kelly’s pending sexual assault cases.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced on Monday that her office will seek to dismiss the ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse at a hearing on Tuesday, citing the disgraced singer’s prior convictions, the high cost of prosecution, and limited resources.
According to WGN-TV, the decision to drop the charges was prompted by Kelly’s 30-year prison sentence following his conviction in a federal sex trafficking case in New York. In addition, he faces additional time in prison for his conviction in the federal child porn trial in Chicago.
“Mr. Kelly could be looking at never walking out of prison again for the crimes that he’s committed,” Foxx said. “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 that the sentences already handed down to Mr. Kelly, as well as the sentence that will be handed down next month, have been carried out.”
A Cook County grand jury indicted Kelly in February 2019 on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were minors. All of the alleged incidents took place between 1998 and 2010.
Before deciding to drop the charges, Foxx spoke with each of the four alleged victims. She also stated that if the four cases had gone to trial, she was confident that her office would have obtained convictions.
“We brought the charges believing that we had sufficient evidence to support guilt findings in a court of law,” Foxx explained. “We brought them for that reason.”
Kelly was convicted in September by a federal jury in Chicago on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity. On February 23, he will be sentenced.
Kelly is also facing charges in Minnesota for prostitution with a minor and soliciting a minor for sexual purposes.
