R. Kelly, 56, was sentenced to 20 years in prison today in a federal courtroom in Chicago after being convicted last year on charges of child por,nog,raphy and inducement of a juvenile.
The R&B artist is already serving a 30-year prison sentence in a New York federal court for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and s,ex trafficking charges.
In court on Thursday, Feb. 23, US District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber stated that 19 years of his 20-year jail term would be served concurrently, or at the same time as his other sentence. He stated that one year will be spent consecutively or after the sentence was completed.
Kelly was convicted in September on three counts of child pornography production and three counts of enticing a juvenile to participate in illegal sexual behaviour. Last Monday, a motion for a fresh trial was denied.
Prosecutors had requested a 25-year sentence to be served once his 30-year prison sentence was completed.
“Robert Kelly is a serial se.xual 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 said in a filing. “To this day, and even following the jury verdict against him, Kelly refuses to accept responsibility for his crimes.”
The defense said in its filing that Kelly is already serving a “de facto life sentence” and asked for any sentence 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 reoffend as a geriatric in his mid-80s,” his attorneys wrote. “The overwhelming majority of Kelly’s criminal conduct was committed a quarter century ago.”
The sentencing hearing is the culmination of nearly three decades of allegations Kelly had sexually abused underage girls.