After a six-week trial, and two days of deliberation, the jury in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking and racketeering case in New York found the singer guilty on all counts. Emotional testimonies emerged over the course of the trial of witnesses detailing the heinous acts R. Kelly committed against underage women. “To the victims in this case, your voices were heard and justice was finally served,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said after the judge read Kelly his verdict.
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The singer was convicted on nine charges including racketeering and eight counts under the Mann Act. The singer is now facing anywhere between 10 years to max. sentence of life in prison. Following the trial’s conclusion, his attorney claimed that the government “cherry-picked” evidence in order to seal a guilty verdict.
“You didn’t get to see what we saw in terms of the discovery. You didn’t get to see all the inconsistencies,” Deveraux Cannick said. “We said in our summation that the government cherry-picked their version that they thought would support the continuation of the narrative.”
While there are apparently still fans who believe the singer is completely innocent, many have expressed a sense of relief that justice was served. As expected, an output of memes flooded the timeline of everything from people expressing a rare glimpse of gratitude towards the justice system to “I Believe I Can Fly” jokes and Huey’s monologue on The Boondocks.
Check out a few reactions below.