Josh Levin, who spent two weeks over the trial for Slate, offers his thoughts here:

[…I]n the end, [prosecutors] were undone by what they didn’t have. Even without a cooperative victim, the state’s attorneys might have swayed the jury if Judge Vincent Gaughan had allowed them to present evidence of Kelly’s past transgressions, like the four known settlements he’s paid to underage girls who’ve accused him of sexual misconduct. Once you know all of that stuff, it’s somewhat hard to imagine that R. Kelly didn’t tape himself having sex with an underage girl. If, like the jury, you don’t know the singer’s history, there’s a lot more room for doubt.

The Sun-Times, in its latest update on the acquittal, has a new take on the verdict:

In a dramatic verdict that appeared to stun even his own highly-paid lawyers, the 41-year-old R&B star was cleared of all 14 counts of child pornography.

“Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus,” Kelly whispered as each not guilty verdict was read.

[…]The relatively short deliberations after four weeks of testimony led many to believe Kelly would be convicted. Moments before the verdict was announced, the star’s downcast attorney Sam Adam Jr. turned to Kelly, shaking his hand and somberly telling him, “We did everything we could.”

But an overcome Kelly dropped his head and began sobbing as the first “not guilty” was read shortly after 2 p.m. Friday, keeping it bowed for several minutes as he was cleared on each of the remaining counts.

Sitting next to him, Adam exclaimed “Yes!,” dropping his jaw in shock and hugging Kelly, who dabbed the tears streaming down his face with a baby blue handkerchief.

From the Chicago Tribune:

“All of us felt the grayness of the case,” said one white male juror.Most thought it was probably R. Kelly in the video, said one 54-year-old male black juror. Many thought the girl in the video was underage. But there remained a doubt that she was the victim alleged by prosecutors, the juror said.

The jury spent time looking at facial profiles, still shots and comparing them to the alleged victim’s face. And the young woman’s silence all but ruled out a guilty verdict, the juror said.

“The victim didn’t show up,” he said. “Her parents didn’t. The family that did was split.”