A Chicago prosecutor said Monday that she's dropping sex-abuse charges against singer R. Kelly, following federal convictions in two courts that ensure the disgraced R&B star will be locked up for decades.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx announced the decision a day ahead of a court hearing related to state charges accusing him of sexually abusing four people, three of whom were minors.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is serving a 30-year prison sentence in the New York case and awaits sentencing on Feb. 23 in Chicago federal court. He is appealing those convictions. Based on the New York sentence alone, the 56-year-old won't be eligible for release until he is around 80. Prosecutors sometimes choose to go ahead with more trials out of a concern that convictions elsewhere could be reversed during appeals. They see an opportunity for additional convictions as insurance.
Widespread outrage over Kelly's sexual misconduct didn't emerge until the #MeToo reckoning and the release of the Lifetime docuseries"Surviving R. Kelly."After that series aired in early 2019, Foxx pleaded with accusers to come forward so that prosecutors could pursue charges. She announced the Cook County indictment months before the federal cases in New York and Chicago.
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