A Chicago prosecutor is dropping sexual abuse and assault charges against singer R Kelly, who is already facing decades in prison after being convicted of federal charges.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has said her office "will no longer be pursuing these indictments" and will ask a judge to dismiss those charges.
"Sometimes justice is served even when there is no conviction," she said.
The charges date back to as far as 1998.
"Due to the extensive sentences that these convictions hold, our office has decided not to continue to expend our limited resources and court time with the indictments that we previously charged Mr. Kelly," Ms Foxx said.
She said resources will be put to better use to prosecute other sexual offenders.
Imagine being a child who was sexually abused by R Kelly, and a state prosecutor says "shhhhh, hes got it bad enough already".Thats not how Im reading it.
This is awful.
I hope this doesnt impact his victims ability to win civil damages but also I havent followed this very muchThe impact is that it's not the automatic slam dunk it would otherwise be if he were convicted.