For years now, R. Kelly’s future has hung in the balance as the controversial singer has faced charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Yesterday, he was found guilty of those charges and could end up spending the rest of his life in prison, or at least a significant chunk of time. After the verdict was rendered, Kelly offered a statement.
On his Facebook page, he shared a message for his followers, in which he said he was disappointed by the verdict and proclaimed his innocence: “To all my fans and supporters I love you all and thank you for all the support. Today’s verdict was disappointing and I will continue to prove my innocence and fight for my freedom. #notguilty.”
Meanwhile, Kelly’s attorney, Deveraux Cannick, spoke outside the courthouse after the verdict, saying (via Revolt):
“Of course Mr. Kelly is disappointed. He was not anticipating this verdict because based on the evidence, why should he anticipate this verdict? […] You saw witness after witness giving three, four, five different versions as to what they said happened here. […] 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?”
There’s still some time before we know what will become of Kelly, as his sentencing date is set for May 4, 2022.
