Kelly was found guilty of three of four counts of producing child pornography and three of five counts of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
He was acquitted of one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to receive child pornography as well as two counts of receiving child pornography.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, said her client had a “sense of relief” that this case was now behind him and felt prosecutors had overstated their case against him. Bonjean said she was considering appealing.
“If this jury found that he was guilty of the first three counts, would they care enough about the evidence for the rest? And they demonstrated that they did. They did their job. They looked each count separately,” Bonjean said outside. court after the verdict.
The woman was one of five minors prosecutors allege Kelly sexually abused in the late 1990s by making explicit videos with four of them.
2 of Kelly’s former associates acquitted
Kelly’s co-defendants, Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown, were acquitted of all charges they faced.
McDavid, Kelly’s former accountant and business manager, was charged with conspiracy to receive child pornography, receiving child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Brown, Kelly’s former assistant, was charged with conspiracy to receive child pornography. Both pleaded not guilty.
Vadim Glozman and Beau Brindley, attorneys for McDavid, welcomed the verdict in a statement to CNN.
“The jury found what we knew all along. The government brought an action that should never have been brought. It was based on the word of proven liars,” the lawyers said. “We exposed them to the jury and the jury made the right decision.”
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Kelly and Brown for comment.
The victim testified to sexual abuse
One of the trial witnesses, a 37-year-old woman, spoke in federal court under the pseudonym Jane and said Kelly started having sex with her when she was 14 and had had sex with her from the age of 15. They had sex “hundreds” of times before she was 18, she said.
Jane testified that she met Kelly through her aunt, Sparkle, who worked with R. Kelly and was romantically involved with him. Jane was 12 or 13 when she met the singer.
At the time, Jane was traveling the world with a Christian hip-hop group whose members were her cousins. Prosecutors asked him not to name the group in order to protect his identity.
Shortly after they met, Jane said she started spending more time with Kelly and Sparkle. She watched Kelly and Sparkle record music and talked about basketball and music with Kelly. Jane testified that she was 13 when Sparkle suggested that Jane ask Kelly to play a bigger role in her life.
Jane testified that Kelly became her godfather, how comfortable her parents felt letting her spend the night or even the weekend at his house, without her parents or aunt present.
“They would pretty much drop me off and then leave,” Jane said.
Jane said she was 14 when her relationship with Kelly turned sexual and she lost her virginity to him when she was 15.
When the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services began investigating an allegation that Kelly had a sexual relationship with Jane in April 2000, when she was 15, Jane testified that she had denied the relationship. She also said she later denied to Chicago police investigators that she and Kelly had a sexual relationship.
Jane, her parents and Kelly met for a reunion when reports began to surface in 2002 that there was a tape showing the couple engaging in sex acts. She said Kelly confessed to them that he had a sexual relationship with their daughter.
Jane and her father received subpoenas to testify before a grand jury in 2002. Jane said that before appearing before the grand jury, she had a conversation with Kelly about “loyalty” and “denying our relationship and the sex tape”.
Jane testified that she lied to a grand jury in 2002 when she denied having sex and appearing in sex videos with the singer.
CNN’s Amir Vera contributed to this report.