The state of Illinois is set to drop its Cook County charges against disgraced singer R. Kelly.
Cook County’s state attorney Kim Foxx said the “extensive sentences” the fallen “I Believe I Can Fly” singer is already serving at a federal level in New York meant that “justice has been served.”
Foxx told reporters Monday that she couldn’t justify spending the time and resources to go to trial now that Kelly has been convicted twice on federal charges following his lengthy prison sentence on federal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York last year.
“Sometimes justice is served even when there is no conviction,” Foxx said.
The Grammy-winning singer was sentenced to 30 years behind bars in 2022 for sexually abusing women and underage girls and boys over the course of decades.
Based on the New York sentence alone, Kelly won’t be eligible for release until he is in his 80s.
Kelly, 56, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted on nine charges, including racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars interstate transportation of women and girls for “immoral purposes.”
Parallel to his charges in New York, the singer was also found guilty by a federal jury in a separate trial in Chicago on six child pornography and trafficking charges. He is set to be sentenced on February 23.
The sentencing may result in Kelly “never walking out of prison again,” as Foxx noted.
As a result, Foxx said the Cook County State office would not “expend our limited resources and court time with the indictments that we previously charged [against] Mr. Kelly.”
The singer faced charges including 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, relating to allegations made by four women in Cook County. Three of the women were underage at the time of the alleged crimes.
“We have a significant number of cases and survivors who are equally in need of the resources that have been expended on Mr. Kelly’s cases,” Foxx said, adding that the limited resources they have should be used for similar cases state-wide.
“[The decision] is not an indication that we don’t see them,” Foxx said of Kelly’s accusers. “I want to acknowledge that when we brought these charges… we brought them because we believed the allegations to be credible and we believed that they deserved the opportunity to have the allegations heard.”
Foxx said she consulted with Kelly’s accusers before making the announcement.
“For them, the process of going through this process was very difficult, and they are pleased with the outcome of the sentence and judgment against Mr. Kelly,” Foxx added.
Kelly is also facing state-level charges in Minnesota after being accused of soliciting a minor for sexual purposes and engaging in prostitution with a minor.
With Post wires
