Today is R. Kelly’s sentence for sexual abuse and he can be jailed for 25 years or more

R&B star R. Kelly faces the possibility of spending a quarter century or more in prison this afternoon when he is convicted in a federal sex trafficking case in New York.

A jury found the 55-year-old singer guilty of racketeering and other charges last year in a trial that was seen as a watershed in the #MeToo era.

Outrage over Kelly’s sexual misconduct with minors and young women was fueled in part by the widely acclaimed documentary series Survived R. Kelly), which gave voice to accusers who wondered if their stories had previously been ignored because they were women of color.

the agenda of the day

US District Judge Ann Donnelly will enforce the sentence in Brooklyn federal court after hearing testimony from the victims and possibly Kelly himself.

Prosecutors are demanding a 25-year minimum sentence, while the defense says he deserves no more than a 10-year sentence or less.

Kelly’s attorneys argued in court documents that he should have obtained a truce in part because he “lived through a traumatic childhood that resulted in prolonged and severe child sexual abuse, poverty and violence.”

They added: “His victimization continued into adulthood where, due to his literacy deficiencies, the defendant was repeatedly financially cheated and mistreated, often by the people who paid to protect him.”

the testimonials

The jury condemned the creator of the hit I believe I Can Fly after hearing how he used his entourage of managers and assistants to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation according to prosecutors amounted to a criminal enterprise.

Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were minors.

Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has used his “fame, money and popularity” to “systematically prey on girls and young women for his own sexual gratification,” prosecutors wrote in a filing at the beginning of. this month.

The accusers said they were ordered to sign confidentiality documents and were subjected to threats and punishment, including violent lashes, if they broke what were called “Rob’s rules”.

Some said they believed the singer would use the videotapes he recorded of them having sex against them if they exposed what was happening.

There have been reports that Kelly gave herpes to multiple accusers without revealing that she had a sexually transmitted disease, forced a teenager to join him in having sex with a naked girl who emerged from under a boxing ring in his garage and recorded an embarrassing video of a victim showing her face covered in feces as punishment for breaking their rules.

fraudulent marriage

Evidence was also presented of a fraudulent marriage scheme devised to protect Kelly after she feared getting R&B star Aaliyah pregnant in 1994, when she was only 15 years old. Witnesses said the singers married in matching jogging suits, using a license that falsely indicated the singer’s age as 18; Kelly was 27 at the time.

Aaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, Age It is nothing but a number. He died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22.

A defense note suggested that prosecutors’ arguments for a higher sentence were overruled by falsely claiming that Kelly had participated in paying a bribe to a government official to facilitate the illegal marriage.

Kelly’s lawyers also said it was wrong to say she should have jailed more time because she sexually abused one of her victims _ referred to in court under the generic name “Jane” _ after her parents innocently confided to her help. in his musical career.

“The record shows that Jane’s parents ordered Jane to lie to the defendant about her age and then encouraged her to seduce him,” the documents say.

Kelly has been jailed without bail since 2019. He still faces charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice in Chicago, where his trial will begin on August 15.

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