R. Kelly, once best known for his streak in the music industry, was convicted of sex trafficking after a lengthy court battle in September 2021. Now a New York court has sentenced him to thirty years in prison.
Robert Sylvester Kelly, better known as R. Kelly, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after federal prosecutors asked for “more than 25 years” for the charges he was convicted of, according to Variety. Prosecutors cited continued danger to the public as well as an apparent lack of remorse. She is currently 55 years old.
The 30-year ruling follows the former music superstar’s lawyer argument of no more than ten years. Her attorney Jennifer Bonjean (also known to represent Bill Cosby) has argued that she should receive a significantly shorter sentence due to her developing “hypersexuality” as an adult following childhood sexual abuse.
He was charged with nine counts when the six-week trial began in 2021, including one racketeering count and eight sex trafficking law violations. At the time, Variety reported that the jury ruled for nine hours in the New York federal court before returning with a guilty verdict. He was found guilty on all nine counts after pleading not guilty.
The allegations stemmed from allegations that he would lure potential fans and singers into sexual abuse situations with the help of employees and intermediaries. Among the charges, he locked the victims in rooms for days, denying them access to toilets or food. 45 witnesses testified in support of the case against Kelly, who has been in jail since the summer of 2019.
In the sentencing letter, prosecutors wrote that Kelly did not acknowledge his illegal behavior and showed no remorse for “callous contempt” for the abuses for which he was convicted. The sentence of thirty years comes from New York; He therefore should be transferred to Chicago for an upcoming trial for obstruction and child pornography, and he faces state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
The conviction comes after decades of indictments against R. Kelly before he was finally incarcerated in 2019. They started in the early 1990s and he married (and illegally) singer Aaliyah Haughton when he wasn’t just 15 in 1994. was imprisoned in 2002 but eventually acquitted.
The allegations continued to emerge in subsequent years, including the brainwashing of women in mid-2017 and a sexual assault trial in 2018. In the same year, authorities were even looking for Kelly’s manager.
The allegations against him attracted more public attention in early 2019 with the release of the Lifetime documentary series titled Survived R. Kelly (Now available to stream for Netflix subscribers.) It was discontinued shortly thereafter, and the documentary series received a second season the following year. (Unsurprisingly, R. Kelly wasn’t a fan.) His thirty-year sentence isn’t the end of the charges against him, and only time will tell if more years are added.
Source: Cinemablend
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