CHICAGO, June 13 (UPI) -- A Chicago jury Friday acquitted R&B singer R. Kelly on all 14 counts in his child pornography trial.
Kelly was charged with allegedly videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl some time between 1998 and 2000. Kelly's attorneys maintained the female on the tape wasn't his goddaughter as prosecutors had claimed. The defense also argued the man on the tape wasn't Kelly.
The 41-year-old recording artist could have faced up to 15 years in prison if he had been convicted.
The jury of nine men and three women got the case Thursday and deliberated for seven and a half hours before announcing its not guilty verdict Friday afternoon, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The Chicago Sun-Times said tears streamed down Kelly's face after the 14-count verdict was read. He then hugged his defense attorneys, Sam Adam Jr. and Ed Genson.
"R. Kelly was found not guilty because they had the best jury that Cook County could produce," the Tribune quoted Adam as saying. "Two things happened today. R. Kelly got his name back and (his goddaughter) never had to lose hers."
Kelly declined to comment on the outcome of the trial, but did acknowledge his fans, who had gathered outside the court, with a salute and a wave.
| Additional News Stories | |
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 10 (UPI) --
Lead singer Steven Tyler does not intend to quit the rock group Aerosmith, contrary to rumors claiming he already has, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
|
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) --
John Allen Muhammad, the so-called D.C. Sniper, died by lethal injection at a Virginia prison at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday, a prison official said.
|
NEW YORK, Nov. 10 (UPI) --
Crude oil prices closed below $79 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as a once threatening storm dissipated in the Gulf of Mexico.
|
|