R. Kelly was acquitted on child pornography charges on June 13, 2008. Kelly initially came under fire in 2002 when an unnamed source submitted a video to the Chicago Sun-Times that allegedly showed the crooner engaging in sex acts with an underage girl.
The case was initially dropped after a judge found that police lacked probable cause when they searched Kelly’s Florida home in 2003. During the raid, police found pictures of an allegedly underage girl and a digital camera with a video believed to be Kelly having sex with another minor.
The case took six years to come to trial, and the jury took less than one day to acquit Kelly on 21 different counts. Kelly’s attorney, Sam Adam Jr., later told MSNBC that Kelly was emotional when they read the verdict.
“All I heard [from Kelly] while those 14 verdicts were being read was ‘Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus,”’ said Adam said.