R Kelly’s sex trafficking trial begins with opening statements | R Kelly

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R&B star Kelly will return to criminal court on Wednesday, this time to deliver opening statements at his long-awaited federal trial that stemmed from years of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls in his pursuit of fame and fortune.

It’s been more than a decade since Kelly was acquitted in a child pornography case in Chicago in 2008. It was a reprieve that allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up, encouraging alleged victims to come forward.

The women’s stories gained wide exposure through the lifelong documentary Surviving R Kelly. The series explored how an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing the case of a federal racketeering conspiracy that led to Kelly’s imprisonment in 2019.

Brooklyn prosecutors have lined up several accused – often referred to in court as “Jane Doe” – and former female collaborators who have never before spoken publicly about their experiences with Kelly.

They are expected to provide testimony about how Kelly’s managers, bodyguards, and other employees helped him recruit women and girls—and sometimes boys—for sexual exploitation. They say the group selected victims at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly in the New York City area and elsewhere, in violation of the Mann Act, a 1910 law that made it illegal to “move any woman or girl across state lines” for any immoral purpose “.

When the women and girls arrived at their lodgings, a member of Kelly’s entourage was making rules about not talking to each other, how they should dress and how they needed permission from Kelly before eating or going to the bathroom, prosecutors say. They were also allegedly asked to call him ‘Dad’.

Defense attorneys responded by saying that Kelly’s alleged victims were from the groups that appeared on his shows and declared that they were “dying to be with him”. They said that women only began accusing him of mistreatment years later when public sentiment turned against him.

Kelly, 54, is perhaps best known for his hit song I Believe I Can Fly, a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem being played at prom, weddings, advertisements, and other venues.

An anonymous jury of seven men and five women took an oath to hear the case. The trial, which comes after several delays mostly due to the pandemic, will take place with coronavirus precautions restricting the press and the public from flocking to courtrooms with a video feed.

The New York case is only part of the legal risk facing the singer, Robert Sylvester Kelly. He also pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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