R. Kelly’s lawyer is weighing up an appeal after the R&B star was found guilty of racketeering and related sex crimes in New York on Monday (September 27th).
The disgraced singer faces decades behind bars after a jury found him guilty on all nine counts linked to a scheme to recruit women and underage children for sex.
His attorney told CNN the defense team is disappointed by the verdict.
Deveraux Cannick accused federal prosecutors of having “cherry-picked” evidence to suit their case against the singer.
“You didn’t get to see what we saw in terms of the discovery,” he says. “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.”
R. Kelly, who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, didn’t react when the verdict was read out, but his lawyer admitted the singer was shocked to learn he had been found guilty of all nine charges against him.
Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented three of six alleged 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.”
Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced on May 4th, 2022. He is also facing other charges in Illinois and Minnesota.