By Bahle Gama
The Chicago Federal Court has sentenced disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly to 20 years in prison following his conviction last year on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor.
The decision makes for his second lengthy sentencing in the past year as he is already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges which was handed down in a New York Federal Court.
The 20-year sentence was handed down on Thursday whereby US District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber stated that 19 years of the 20-year prison sentence would be served concurrently with his other sentence.
Read More: Chicago prosecutor drops charges against R Kelly
One year would be served consecutively, or after that sentence is complete. Prosecutors had asked the court for a 25-year sentence to be served once his other 30-year prison sentence is complete.
According to CNN, In September 2022, Kelly was convicted on three counts of the production of child pornography and three more counts of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
A motion for a new trial was reportedly denied last week. Before the sentence, attorney Christopher Brown read from a statement given by one of Kelly’s victims, identified as Jane who stated that she had lost her dignity due to Kelly.
“I have lost my dreams due to Robert Kelly. I have lost my teenage years to Robert Kelly,” read Brown. In filing papers, prosecutors stated that Kelly is a serial predator who for many years, specifically targeted young girls and went to great lengths to conceal his abuse of Jane and other minor victims.
“To this day, and even following the jury verdict against him, Kelly refuses to accept responsibility for his crime,” filed the prosecutors.
Meanwhile, in its filing, the defence said that Kelly was already serving a “de facto life sentence” and asked for any sentence to be served at the same time as his 30-year sentence in the New York case.
His attorneys stated that in the unlikely event, he was to survive his 30-year sentence, there will be no reason to believe he would re-offend as a geriatric in his mid-80s, adding that “the majority of Kelly’s criminal conduct was committed a quarter century ago.”
According to the prosecution’s calculations, the advisory sentencing guidelines offer a range of 14 to 17.5 years in prison, or 11.25 to 14 years in prison, according to the defence’s calculations.
