Prosecutor: R. Kelly ‘degraded’ girl for his ‘sick pleasure’

CHICAGO — R. Kelly parlayed his fame as an R&B superstar to sexually abuse minors and record that abuse on video, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the singer’s federal trial on charges of child pornography and of rigging his 2008 state child pornography trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Pozolo several times raised her voice and singled out Kelly, describing him as a secret sexual predator in closing arguments in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago, where he rose from poverty.

“Robert Kelly abused many girls over many years,” she said, referring to the 55-year-old Grammy winner’s full first name. “He committed horrible crimes against children. … All these years later, the hidden side of Robert Kelly has come out.”

Jurors are expected to began deliberating Tuesday after Kelly’s lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, makes her closing argument and prosecutors give a short rebuttal.

Bonjean twice called for a mistrial Monday, complaining that closing arguments by attorneys for Kelly co-defendants Derrell McDavid and Milton Brown were grounded in the presumption that “the world now knows Mr. Kelly is a sex predator.”

“The presumption of innocence has been abolished for him,” Bonjean said about Kelly, meaning he was unable to get a fair trial. Judge Harry Leinenweber denied the requests.

Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind,” Kelly sold millions of albums even after allegations of sexual misconduct began circulating in the 1990s and after his 2008 Illinois trial, at which he was acquitted. Widespread outrage emerged after the #MeToo reckoning and the 2019 docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly.”

Kelly and McDavid, Kelly’s former business manager, are charged with fixing the 2008 trial. Both face child pornography charges. Brown, a former Kelly associate, is accused of receiving child pornography.

Kelly already was sentenced to 30 years in prison after a separate federal trial in New York in June. Convictions on just a few of the 13 counts Kelly faces at his current trial could add years to that.

Pozolo, the prosecutor, focused much of her closing argument Monday on a Kelly accuser who went by “Jane” and who was considered the government’s star witness. She testified that Kelly sexually abused her hundreds of times starting when she was 14.

“He took advantage of Jane’s youth,” Pozolo said about Kelly. “He repeatedly abused her. He performed degrading acts upon her for his own sick pleasure.”