Detectives illegally seized photographs allegedly showing R&B singer R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl and prosecutors cannot use them to try him on child pornography charges, a judge ruled Thursday.

The photographs were on a digital camera seized from the singer’s Davenport home during a drug raid.

Circuit Judge Dennis Maloney agreed with Kelly’s lawyers that the Polk County sheriff’s detectives did not have enough evidence to justify a search of Kelly’s home when the deputies asked a judge for permission. A judge granted the warrant for the June 2002 search. The camera was found wrapped in a towel in a duffel bag.

Prosecutors said they haven’t decided if they will appeal. If they don’t, they would have to drop the 12 counts of child pornography against the 37-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly.

Kelly’s Chicago-based lawyer, Ed Genson, immediately called the singer, who was not present, and told him the evidence was being thrown out.

“I told him `congratulations.’ He was very pleased,” Genson said.

Kelly is also facing 14 counts of child pornography charges in Chicago and has pleaded innocent. Those charges are not affected by Maloney’s ruling. Last month, seven of the original 21 child pornography charges against Kelly in Chicago were dismissed.

Credit: AP