Deputy Cook County Attorney Kamala Fish is frustrated by the decision of a high-sequestering federal conviction against a disgraced R&B singer
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.
The disgraced R&B singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted in New York of 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.
“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 said. “Our priority is to find justice for other victims who don’t have access to a documentary to come forward with their abuse stories,” said the head of the office.
“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.
“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.
But Jerhonda Pace, one of Kelly’s victims who testified as part of a successful federal case against him in New York and was also part of the case in Cook County, says she’s disappointed by Foxx’s decision — in part because Kelly is still fighting to appeal his federal convictions.
Fish questioned the timing of the case being dropped in November, and said that the prosecutor’s office informed him about it. “It is unclear to us why it waited so long to announce the decision publicly.”
While I am aware that Kelly was found guilty in federal court, his federal cases are being appealed and, if overturned, R. Kelly could get out of prison. This is not just a theoretical concern: we all saw Bill Cosby recently won on appeal and is back doing comedy tours.
Chicago has been the center of decades’ worth of accusations and legal proceedings against the singer, who was born Robert Sylvester Kelly.
Surviving R. Kelly: New Sexual Abuse and Abuse Charges from 2019 Lifetime Investigations of the Cook County State Attorney’s Office
The accusations did not result in a conviction. But in 2019, the Cook County State’s Attorney office filed a new set of charges, including counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The federal cases in Brooklyn and Illinois were released months later.
The six part series Surviving R. Kelly raised new claims of abuse and statutory rape against R. Kelly, which aired on Lifetime in 2019. The series spurred more women to speak out and lead to new charges against Kelly.