By Remmie Fresh
R. Kelly is now a free man in the eyes of the law, as the R&B singer was found not guilty of child pornography charges today (June 13).
The singer was facing up to 15 years if he had been convicted for charges related to an infamous video tape, which allegedly featured the singer engaged in shocking sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl.
The trial went to the jury on Thursday (June 12).
Deliberations lasted for over seven hours, before jurors acquitted Kelly, 41, on charges that he videotaped himself engaged in sexual acts with his 13-year-old niece.
"R. Kelly was found not guilty because they had the best jury that Cook County could produce," said the R&B singer’s attorney Sam Adam Jr. "Two things happened today. R. Kelly got his name back and [his goddaughter] never had to lose hers."
The verdict marks the end of the four-week trial.
Neither Kelly, nor the alleged victim testified during the trial, but both denied their involvement in the sex tape to a grand jury in 2002.
During the trial, only one witness, Lisa Van Allen, testified to having knowledge of Kelly’s alleged relationship with the 13-year-old girl.
Van Allen charged that she engaged in a 3-way sex romp with Kelly and the girl in the video, but defense lawyers claimed Van Allen was attempting to extort the R&B singer.
Defense lawyers maintained that Kelly was not the man on the tape and that the girl seen in the video is not the 13-year-old, but a prostitute.
Defense attorneys also countered that R. Kelly has a large mole on his back and the man in the tape didn’t, proof that the tape was doctored.
The self-proclaimed king of R&B has recorded six albums in the six years that his case has taken to come to trial.