A prosecutor began closing arguments in the R. Kelly sex trafficking trial Wednesday by telling jurors that the government had delivered on its promises to prove that the R&B singer had for years commanded close associates to help him target, groom and exploit girls, boys, and young women for his own sexual gratification.
Six weeks of testimony from more than 45 witnesses and other evidence “showed he did just that,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes.
She said Kelly got away with sexually abusing his victims by surrounding himself with enablers he managed with an iron fist.
She told jurors the assistants, drivers, bodyguards and others Kelly employed comprised a criminal enterprise that resulted in the federal racketeering charges against him.
Before closings began, Kelly told U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly that he won’t take the witness stand, allowing him to avoid the risk of a potentially brutal cross-examination.
