Prosecutor To Drop Sexual Abuse Charges Against R. Kelly

A top Chicago prosecutor said her office will be dropping sexual abuse charges against R. Kelly because the singer is already likely to spend the rest of his life in prison following his convictions in federal courts.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said she will ask a judge on Tuesday to dismiss charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse that her office filed against Kelly in 2019.

Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering by a New York federal court in 2021, and later sentenced to 30 years in prison. After a separate trial in Illinois, a federal jury found Kelly guilty in September of three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity and three counts of producing sex tapes involving a minor. His sentencing in that case is expected next month, and he faces a minimum of 10 to 90 years in prison, according to prosecutors there.

Under these conditions, and facing what she described as “limited” resources, Foxx on Monday said she made the decision to drop her office’s charges against Kelly, and to instead focus on finding “justice for other victims of sexual abuse.”