R. Kelly’s Trial for Abusing Women Starts Today. Here’s What You Need to Know.

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R. Kelly was once known for hits like “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Trapped in the Closet.” Now, he’s set to stand trial over accusations that he was a mob boss whose mafia aimed to sexually, physically, and psychologically abuse women and girls.

On Monday, jury selection will begin in the New York case of the man born Robert Sylvester Kelly, who’s facing one racketeering charge and an array of others. His trial is sure to be a long one, as prosecutors are hoping to introduce evidence of a mountain of alleged crimes, including ones that Kelly isn’t even charged with. It’s also the first of several cases currently facing the infamous singer: He’s also been charged in Illinois and Minnesota.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the New York case and generally denied ever abusing anyone. Last year, an attorney for Kelly also pushed back against prosecutors’ use of the racketeering charge. Using the nickname for the racketeering statute, the attorney wrote in a filing last year, “RICO was not designed as a means to punish a single individual for his own wrongful actions.”

Prosecutors’ use of racketeering charge is deeply unusual, legal experts told the Chicago Tribune, but they can be a powerful way to knit together all of Kelly’s alleged misdeeds and demonstrate their staggering scope. 

“It’s an effective tool for prosecutors because it allows them to bring in evidence they might not otherwise be able to bring in, to give jurors a much broader look at the playing field,” one former federal prosecutor told the outlet. (U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly rejected Kelly’s legal team’s request to dismiss the racketeering charge, ruling that the government should have a chance to prove them at trial.)

Kelly is no stranger to the inside of courtrooms: In 2008, he was acquitted of child pornography charges after jurors decided that they could not be sure that a tape showed Kelly having sex with his then-13-year-old goddaughter, as prosecutors alleged. 

If convicted, Kelly could spend up to two decades in prison.

irst indicted in the Eastern District of New York in June 2019, Kelly is now facing racketeering and sex trafficking charges related to years of alleged abuse. The singer stands accused of running a criminal enterprise composed of his managers, personal assistants, drivers, and others, that aimed to do two main things: promote Kelly’s music and brand, and “recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly,” according to one of the indictments.

“By promoting R. Kelly's music and the R. Kelly brand, the members of the enterprise expected to receive financial opportunities and personal benefits,” the indictment alleges, “including increased power and status within the enterprise.”

Kelly allegedly set up a labyrinth of rules for his sexual partners to follow, including forbidding them to look at other men, forcing them to call him “daddy,” and preventing them from leaving their room without permission—even if they wanted to eat or go to the bathroom. He and his associates controlled these partners by “creating embarrassing and degrading videos of sexual partners to maintain control over them” and “isolating women and girls from friends and family and making them dependent on Kelly for their financial wellbeing,” among other methods, according to court documents filed by the prosecution.

In a July filing and the indictment against Kelly, prosecutors dove into the cases of the six girls and women whose stories form the spine of the charges against the singer. None of the women are named in court records, but are instead identified as “Jane Does.”

According to the prosecution, Kelly filmed himself having sex with an underage girl, thus creating child pornography, and that he and his entourage locked another woman in a hotel room for three days, without sustenance, before Kelly sexually assaulted her. Kelly also allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old, where he repeatedly took sexually explicit photos and videos of her.

“The defendant engaged in a pattern of both physical and psychological abuse when Jane Doe #4 disobeyed his sexual directives, including slapping, choking, and isolating her in rooms for days at a time with no access to food, which caused Jane Doe #4 to believe such punishments would occur if she did not acquiesce and perform sexual acts she did not want to perform,” the July filing by prosecutors alleges.

Kelly also “caused Jane Doe #4 to write and sign letters and other documents containing false information that, if released, could cause reputational harm to both her and her close family members as an additional means to exert control over her.”

Kelly allegedly deployed similar tactics against a girl identified as “Jane Doe #5” in court documents. He also allegedly had sexual contact with her in California without telling her that he had herpes, a violation of California law, and did the same to “Jane Doe #6” in New York, where it is also illegal.

Kelly also met with Jane Doe #6 in California, where, prosecutors say, she felt trapped in a room with the singer.

“Jane Doe #6 noticed a gun in the room, which the defendant moved to a piece of furniture nearby. He then proceeded to ask Jane Doe #6 a series of questions, warning her there would be consequences if she lied,” a July court filing alleges. “Given the surrounding circumstances, Jane Doe #6 believed she was not free to leave the room. Thereafter, the defendant directed Jane Doe #6 to give him oral sex in the room.”

Kelly appears to be facing charges connected to his relationship with Aaliyah, the R&B singer who died in a Bahamas plane crash in 2001. Although Aaliyah is also not named in the indictment, an attorney for Kelly has admitted that “Jane Doe #1” is the late singer; the prosecution’s description of her also matches Aaliyah’s life.

Specifically, Kelly and his associates stand accused of bribing an Illinois state employee with $500 to create an ID card for Aaliyah “in or around 1994” so that Kelly could marry her and thus prevent her from being forced to testify against him. (Kelly feared that she was pregnant, prosecutors say.) Records of the marriage between the pair list Aaliyah’s age as 18; in reality, Aaliyah was just 15.

Last month, prosecutors asked the judge to let them include evidence about “uncharged acts.” This evidence, they say, will help them illustrate the contours of a criminal conspiracy, because they show “all existence of the enterprise, its purposes, means and methods, the pattern of racketeering, and specifically the relatedness of the racketeering acts and the threat of their continuity,” as prosecutors wrote in a July filing.

These acts include Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse of five more minor girls, as well as the alleged abuse of Aaliyah. He’s also accused of giving herpes to two more women without informing them that he had a sexually transmitted disease, refusing to let a woman leave his residence, paying off a woman who said she had a sexual relationship with Kelly as a minor, and physically and psychologically abusing two more women. He’s also alleged to have threatened Jane Doe #6 and yet another woman, as well as attempted to procure child pornography.

Prosecutors also say that Kelly sexually abused an underage boy, identified as “John Doe #1” in court documents. 

“Kelly invited John Doe #1 into his studio under the guise of helping and mentoring John Doe #1 with his musical aspirations,” the Friday filing reads. “Kelly also asked John Doe #1 what he was willing to do to succeed in the music business and clarified that he wanted John Doe #1 to engage in sexual contact with Kelly. With that backdrop, Kelly then engaged in sexual contact with John Doe #1.”

Not all of that evidence may ultimately be heard at trial. At a hearing last week, Judge Donnelly said that, in general, she will not allow questions about the women’s mental health, as well as testimony about religious beliefs or that some of the women were told to have sex with each other, the Associated Press reported. Witnesses who talk about abuse will be allowed to be identified only by their first names.

Kelly has gained weight and lost money while in jail, according to his attorney Devereaux Cannick, who told the judge that Kelly needs to be measured for new clothes for the trial.

Cannick has also asked that, since Kelly has been unable to work for two years, he be allowed to receive court transcripts for free. Donnelly has granted that request.

“His funds are depleted,” Cannick said.

Editor’s note 8/19: This story has been updated to correct the charges R. Kelly is facing.