Illinois Prosecutors Drop Charges Against R. Kelly After Conviction

More than a decade after his first trial in 2008, Cook County, Illinois, prosecutors have dropped charges against the disgraced rapper R. Kelly.

With hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify, Kelly (whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly), is now notoriously known for being a sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses such as sex trafficking, racketeering, production of child porn and a slew of others.

The 56-year-old convict had charges dropped against him in the state of Illinois, attorney Kim Foxx announced in a news conference on Monday in Chicago, “Due to the extensive sentences that these convictions hold, our office has decided not to continue to expend our limited resources and court time with the indictments that we previously charged [against] Mr. Kelly.”

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Kelly faced ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four women, three who were minors at the time, who spoke out against the rapper in 2019 after Foxx asked for victims to come forward. Foxx commended their “bravery and relentless pursuit of justice” as their testimonies aided in efforts to sentence Kelly in federal court. 

Four indictments have been dropped, and Kelly faces 30 years in prison. Because he will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison, prosecutors have decided that their time will go to other cases of sexual abuse to help more women who were impacted similarly.