R. Kelly gets 20 years in second federal trial, but largely avoids additional jail time
A Chicago judge on Thursday sentenced R. Kelly to 20 years in prison after being convicted of child sex abuse, according to The Associated Press. He will serve almost all of this sentence concurrently with a previous sentence for crimes in New York and largely avoid additional prison time.
Kelly, a 56-year-old R&B singer whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, will serve 19 years of his final sentence alongside a 30-year sentence in New York he received in 2021 for sex trafficking and racketeering . He will serve the remaining year of the new sentence after those 30 years are up.
Prosecutors previously recommended to U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago that Kelly serve both consecutive sentences, which would have effectively put Kelly behind bars for life. The AP reported that Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued in court Thursday that prosecutors’ recommendation was “overblown.”
A Chicago jury convicted Kelly in September on multiple charges of child pornography and child sexual abuse. It was the second federal trial involving more than three decades of sexual assault allegations against him. They date back to the 1990s, when critics considered him the “King of R&B” for becoming the genre’s most successful male artist.
This is a developing story and will be updated.