American singer R.Kelly will stand trial again this week, beginning the next chapter of prosecutors’ efforts to hold him criminally responsible for allegations of sexual abuse dating back to more than three decades.
Recall R.Kelly, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking earlier this year.
The trial is in Chicago, the city Mr. Kelly long called home, and where he faced his first criminal trial in 2008.
This time, federal prosecutors are seeking to hold Mr. Kelly and his associates accountable for working to stymie the earlier trial, in which a jury acquitted Mr. Kelly of producing child sexual abuse imagery.
Also he and a former employee who is also on trial, Derrel McDavid, have been accused of arranging hush money payments and seeking to conceal evidence that would have aided prosecutors when they were investigating the singer in the early 2000s.
The 55-year-old singer will face charges that he coerced five minors into sex acts, and several charges related to producing child sexual abuse imagery.
He and Mr. McDavid also face charges of receiving child sexual abuse imagery, during what prosecutors have described as a scheme to recover missing tapes of Mr. Kelly having sex with minors.
