R&B Singer, R. Kelly Gets Fresh 20-Year Jail Term For Child Porn Crimes And Other Charges
A US judge has handed disgraced R&B singer, R. Kelly a 20-year prison term for child pornography, enticement of a minor and other charges, but he will serve most of it simultaneously with a previous sentence.
Kelly is already serving a 30-year sentence he received after a Brooklyn jury in a separate federal trial convicted him on racketeering and sex trafficking charges last year.
The judge, Harry Leinenweber in Chicago -Kelly’s hometown, where he was once seen as a source of pride, ruled that most of the new sentence would be served concurrently with the previous 30-year sentence, with all but one year taken at the same time.
This means that Kelly, who is currently 56 years old, could be released from prison when he is approximately 80 years old. In a courtroom in his hometown of Chicago, a federal judge rejected prosecutors’ call to keep him locked up until he was 100 years old.
While the sentence may allow Kelly to live out the rest of his life outside of prison, the judge acknowledged the horrific nature of his crimes and the lasting impact they would have on his victims.
“The nature of this offense is…horrific,” said Leinenweber.
He noted that Kelly’s sexual abuse victims would suffer from his crimes for the rest of their lives. The judge also considered the possibility that Kelly may not live long enough to complete his sentence, stating that he has a life expectancy of “not a hell of a lot more.”
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Nonetheless, he made it clear that Kelly’s actions were reprehensible and that he needed to be held accountable for them. The sentence brings a measure of closure to the case and sends a message that sexual abuse will not be tolerated in any form.
The sentencing hearing is the culmination of nearly three decades of allegations Kelly had sexually abused underage girls, accusations first laid out in the Chicago Sun-Times.
His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, is appealing both of Kelly’s federal convictions. The artist, born Robert Sylvester Kelly was convicted in September 2022 on six of 13 counts alleged in the Chicago trial: three counts of producing child pornography and three of enticement of a minor.
The singer known for hits including “I Believe I Can Fly” was acquitted by a federal jury of seven other counts, including charges that he obstructed justice in a previous trial.
Kelly and two ex-associates had been accused of rigging the singer’s 2008 child pornography proceedings in which a jury delivered a verdict of not guilty.
The federal conviction in Chicago came one year after Kelly was convicted in New York of systematically recruiting teenagers and women for sex.
That verdict was widely seen as a milestone for the #MeToo movement: it was the first major sex abuse trial where the majority of the accusers were Black women.
It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal consequences for the abuse he was rumoured for decades to have inflicted on women and children.