Despite the highest hopes of him and his most loyal fans, R. Kelly's legal situation continues to worsen.
Grand jurors in the R&B star’s Chicago case questioned the prosecution on why Kelly’s illicit marriage to an underage girl was not used in the trial. The girl in question, Aaliyah Haughton, was only 15 at the time.
Aaliyah - Age Ain't Nothing but a Number
Not only was Aaliyah very young singing this, the song was written by R. Kelly who carried on an inappropriate relationship with her at the time, eventually marrying her while she was 15 and he was 27. pic.twitter.com/5qLF83okUO
— 𝑰 𝑳𝒖𝒉 𝑮𝒐𝒅 ✨ (@aVeryRichBish) August 26, 2020
Kelly’s former manager testified that he had helped forge a fake ID for the minor so that she would be able to marry the older singer. Prosecutors said they were unable to use this in their case due to the marriage taking place in 1994, two years before federal law prohibited such an act. However, this relationship was used against the defendant during his New York trial, where he was found guilty of nine counts of sexual abuse.
This marriage was supposedly an act of desperation. Reportedly, Kelly feared he had gotten Aaliyah pregnant. Knowing that this would be proof of his sexual relations with a minor, he hoped that the marriage would protect him from criminal charges and prevent the girl from testifying against him. The coupling was nullified a year later by Aaliyah’s parents. Six years later, she died in a plane crash at only 22 years old.
The registered sex offender was also found guilty of racketeering, which, in this case, describes the celebrity’s decades spent using managers and employees to help him recruit young boys and girls whom he sexually exploited and trafficked around the U.S. While this evidence arouse in the New York trial, his latest courtroom isn’t treating him any better.
Back in Chicago, the child trafficker was recently found guilty of multiple accounts of child pornography. His time on trial is still far from over, as he has two more pending in the coming months – one in Minnesota and another in state court in Chicago.
Check back with HotNewHipHop for future updates on R. Kelly’s legal situation and let us know what you think the disgraced musician’s final sentence will be down in the comments.
[Via]