American R&B singer, Robert Kelly, also known as R. Kelly, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes by a federal judge in Chicago.
KanyiDaily recalls that the 56-year-old singer is already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court.
On September 14, 2022, Kelly was also found guilty on multiple charges of child pornography and luring underage girls to have sex with him, but not guilty of obstructing a 2008 state case that ended with his acquittal.
A federal jury in Chicago found R Kelly guilty and convicted him on six counts, including three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.
He was, however, acquitted of seven additional counts: one child pornography count, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, as well as four conspiracy counts.
Federal prosecutors had argued that Kelly deserved 25 years in prison on top of his earlier sentence, citing the singer’s “lack of remorse” as a reason he would pose a danger to society if released.
“The only way to ensure he will not reoffend is to impose a sentence that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life,” Jeannice Williams Appenteng, one of the prosecutors, said in court on Thursday.
A lawyer for R Kelly, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that her client was “likely to die in prison either way,” but that if he did not, he would not pose a threat in old age.
In his ruling on Thursday, February 32, 2023, US District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber sentenced Kelly to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes, saying that the singer will serve 19 years of the 20-year prison term concurrently with the 30 years he is currently serving.
One year would be served consecutively, or after that sentence is complete, Leinenweber said, meaning that Kelly will spend a total of 31 years behind bars.
Leinenweber said he did not think Kelly would be likely to commit the same kind of crimes in his 80s when he will be eligible for release. The judge acknowledged that he would have dealt a heftier sentence if the Chicago trial had come first.
As in the trial, Kelly remained mostly silent during the sentencing hearing, declining to speak on his own behalf. Taking into account a possible early release because of good behavior, Kelly could walk out of prison in his late 70s.
The sentencing hearing is the culmination of nearly three decades of allegations Kelly had sexually abused underage girls. Kelly remains held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.
KanyuDaily recalls that during one of his trials, a woman testified how R. Kelly had sex with her “hundreds of times” before she turned 18.
