R. Kelly Trends on Twitter After Bill Cosby’s Release; Are Their Crimes The Same?
R. Kelly becomes a trending topic on Twitter hours after it was announced that Bill Cosby would be released from prison.
Bill Cosby Released From Prison But What About R. Kelly?
On Wednesday, Bill Cosby was released from prison after Pennsylvania's highest court has overturned his sexual assault conviction.
They said that the disgraced star's due process rights were violated. The decision on Cosby's case is the first high-profile celebrity criminal trial of the #MeToo era.
The "America's Dad" was sentenced in 2018 to three to ten years in state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
But according to the judges' decision released on Wednesday, District Attorney Bruce Castor reportedly felt "he would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cosby drugged and raped Constand."
They further said, "Seeking 'some measure of justice' for Constand, D.A. Castor decided that the Commonwealth would decline to prosecute Cosby for the incident involving Constand, thereby allowing Cosby to be forced to testify in a subsequent civil action, under penalty of perjury, without the benefit of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination."
But the civil deposition Cosby gave was revealed in 2014, and one of Castor's successors later used the statements Cosby made in the deposition as part of the criminal trial in 2017.
So the judges had to weigh their remedies, including having another trial but felt only there was one remedy - and that was to discharge him.
Supporters of R. Kelly are also calling for the release of the R&B singer, who is still currently incarcerated.
Some mocked R. Kelly, who claimed wanted to use Cosby's lawyer to get him out of prison as well.
However, some are angry that Bill Cosby was released and that people are calling out for R. Kelly to be released as well.
But are R. Kelly and Bill Cosby's crimes the same? Let us revisit the crimes they are charged and being charged with.
R. Kelly Charges Revisited
Robert Sylvester Kelly, known as R. Kelly in the entertainment industry, is set to face trial in two federal cases for this year. One in Chicago and another in New York.
In Chicago, he is charged with possession of child porn and obstruction of justice.
Kelly reportedly conspired two employees to rig his 2008 child pornography trial in Illinois by paying witnesses and victims to change their statements.
Kelly's charges in Chicago include "one count of conspiracy to receive child pornography, two counts of receiving child pornography, four counts of producing child pornography, five counts of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice."
In New York, he is charged with racketeering. The US District Court in Brooklyn alleged that Kelly ran a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for "illegal sexual activity."
According to prosecutors, the award-winning singer isolated women and girls from their friends and family and made them dependent on him financially.
They also claimed that those who worked for Kelly also knew and contributed to the racketeering claims. In the last 20 years, it has been said that they operated in New York, Illinois, Connecticut, California, among others.
R. Kelly has been moved to New York as he waits for trial.
Bill Cosby Charges Revisited
Bill Cosby was sentenced in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman more than ten years ago at his suburban Philadelphia home.
A judge declared that the Hollywood actor was a "sexually violent predator" ahead of his sentencing, which required his name to appear on a sex-offender registry.
At the time of his sentencing hearing, Judge Steven O'Neill said, "Your guilt has been determined by a jury. You were convicted of a very serious crime."
