Years in the making, R Kelly sex abuse trial gets underway

NEW YORK (AP) — A prosecutor has introduced a jury to the sex abuse claims against R&B star R. Kelly, saying the criminal trial was “about a predator” who used his fame to manipulate children and women.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez delivered the opening Wednesday at the long-anticipated federal trial arising from years of allegations that he sexually abused women and girls.

It came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago.

That acquittal was a reprieve that allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

The 54-year-old Kelly denies the charges.

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