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R Kelly wants to appeal verdict


R. Kelly plans to appeal after he was found guilty of racketeering.

The disgraced singer – whose real name is Robert Kelly – faces decades in prison after being found guilty of a string of charges relating to a lengthy scheme of using his fame to recruit women and underage children for sex, but his attorney told CNN they are disappointed in the verdict and are considering filing an appeal.

The 54-year-old star – who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him – didn’t react when the verdict was read out, but his lawyer admitted the ‘Ignition’ hitmaker was shocked to be found guilty of all nine charges.

And the attorney, Deveraux Cannick, accused the government of having “cherry-picked” evidence to suit their case against the singer.

He said: “You didn’t get to see what we saw in terms of the discovery. You didn’t get to see all the inconsistencies.

“We said in our summation that the government cherry-picked their version that they thought would support the continuation of the narrative.

“Why would he expect this verdict given all the inconsistencies that we saw.”

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented three of six victims who testified during the trial, branded Kelly the “worst” sexual predator she has ever encountered.

She told reporters: “I have been practicing law for 47 years. During this time I have pursued many sexual predators who have committed crimes against women and children. Of all the predators that I have pursued, however, Mr. Kelly is the worst, for many reasons.

“First, he used the power of his celebrity to recruit vulnerable underage girls for the purpose of sexually abusing them. These were not May-October relationships, which is what his defense attorney wanted the jury to believe — these were crimes against children and some adults.

“Second, to use the power of his business enterprise and many of his inner circle employees to assist him and enable him in his plan and his scheme to lure his victims to him, isolate them, intimidate them, control them, indoctrinate them, punish them, shame them, and humiliate them. All of which made Mr. Kelly more powerful and more dangerous than many other sexual predators who operate without a network of financial and businesses to support and enable them.”

She also highlighted the fact Kelly was proven to have genital herpes, but didn’t disclose his condition to his victims, or use contraception, and also slammed him for “grooming, isolating, and intimidating his child victims” and then “[recording] them being sexually abused and humiliated by them.”

She added: “He directed these videos and produced them, not only for his own sexual gratification but, in some instances, for the purpose of using these videos to silence and threaten his victims with public exposure of these tapes if they ever revealed what he had done to them. These tapes were not sex tapes: They were child pornography, which is a crime.”

Kelly is due to be sentenced on 4 May, 2022.

He is also facing other charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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