Silke Jasso
R&B singer R. Kelly received a second sentencing of 20 years in prison by a Chicago federal courtroom on Thursday for child pornography and enticement of a minor charge. This comes after his conviction back in 2021 for racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court, for which he is currently serving a 30-year prison term.
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Judge Harry D. Leinenweber stated that 19 years of the 20-year sentence will be served concurrently with Kelly’s current sentence, and one year will be served consecutively. Prosecutors had requested a 25-year sentence to be served after Kelly completes his current sentence. A motion for a new trial was rejected last week.
“Robert Kelly is a serial sexual predator who, over the course of many years, specifically targeted young girls and went to great lengths to conceal his abuse of Jane and other minor victims,” prosecutors stated in a filing. “To this day, and even following the jury verdict against him, Kelly refuses to accept responsibility for his crimes.”
R. Kelly Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Child Porn Case
The defense said in its filing the singer is already serving a “de facto life sentence” and had asked for any sentence to be served at the same time as his 30-year sentence in the New York case. “In the unlikely event that Kelly was to survive his 30-year sentence, there is no reason to believe he would re-offend as a geriatric in his mid-80s,” his attorneys stated. “The overwhelming majority of Kelly’s criminal conduct was committed a quarter century ago.”
According to the prosecution, the advisory sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term of 14 to 17.5 years, while the defense’s calculations suggested a term of 11.25 to 14 years. The court has the discretion to decide whether Kelly’s sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently.
The sentencing hearing marks the end of almost 30 years of allegations that the singer engaged in sexual abuse with underage girls, which were first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. In 2002, he faced child pornography charges for allegedly filming himself having sex with an underage girl, but was later acquitted back in 2008.
Despite the allegations, Kelly had a successful career as an R&B artist during the 1990s and 2000s, producing hit songs such as “Bump N’ Grind,” “Ignition (Remix),” and “I Believe I Can Fly,” which earned him three Grammy Awards. He has been nominated for 26 Grammy Awards, most recently in 2015.
Following the #MeToo movement, Kelly faced additional allegations of misconduct, including in a 2017 BuzzFeed article and the January 2019 Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” He was later indicted in Cook County, Illinois, back in February 2019 on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, followed by two federal indictments in July 2019.
