Illinois prosecutors drop pending criminal cases against R. Kelly, who remains imprisoned on federal convictions
By Raja Razek, CNN
Prosecutors in Illinois’ Cook County have dropped state sex-crime charges against singer R. Kelly, who has already been convicted of federal charges set to keep him in prison for decades.
The Illinois charges — aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse counts involving four accusers — are being dropped in part because of the prison sentences he’s already facing for his federal convictions, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Monday.
CNN has reached out to Kelly’s lawyer for comment.
After Foxx’s office filed charges in 2019, Kelly was charged in federal courts in New York and Chicago, her office noted.
In his federal case in New York, the disgraced R&B singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted in 2021 on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
In federal court in Chicago, Kelly was convicted of multiple child pornography charges and acquitted on others in 2022, after a trial that included anonymous testimony from a woman who said Kelly sexually abused her and recorded the interactions when she was as young as 14.
While a sentence hasn’t been announced in the latter trial, Kelly faces a minimum of 10 to 90 years in prison for that conviction, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said.
“I understand how hard it was for these victims to come forward and tell their stories. I applaud their courage and have the utmost respect for everyone who came forward,” Foxx said in a news release.
“While this may not be the result they were expecting, due to the sentences that Mr. Kelly is facing, we do feel that justice has been served,” Foxx added.
Cook County prosecutors had called for victims to come forward after the airing of “Surviving R. Kelly,” a Lifetime documentary series that chronicled allegations of abuse, predatory behavior and pedophilia against the singer.
The office set up a hotline and interviewed hundreds of witnesses in Chicago, Atlanta and New York, according to the news release.
“My office will direct our resources to find justice for other victims of sexual abuse who do not have the power of a documentary to bring their abusers to light,” Foxx added.
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CNN’s Nouran Salahieh contributed to this report.
