A judge dismissed sex-abuse charges against R&B singer R. Kelly on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 based on the recommendation of a Chicago Prosecutor.
The hearing lasted just minutes and came a day after Cook County State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx said she was comfortable dropping the case because Kelly will spend decades in prison for separate convictions in federal court.
Kelly was awaiting trial on state charges of sexually abusing four people in the Chicago area, three of whom were minors. He was not present when Judge Lawrence Flood dismissed the indictments.
Federal juries in Chicago and New York have convicted Kelly of a raft of crimes, including child pornography, enticement, racketeering and sex trafficking related to allegations that he victimized women and girls.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is serving a 30-year prison sentence in the New York case and awaits sentencing on Feb. 23 in Chicago federal court. He is appealing those convictions. Based on the New York sentence alone, the 56-year-old won’t be eligible for release until he is around 80.
Another sexual-misconduct case is pending in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where the Grammy Award-winner faces solicitation charges. That case, too, has been on hold while the federal cases played out. Minnesota prosecutors haven’t said whether they still intend to take Kelly to trial.
