CHICAGO (AP) — A federal choose will sentence R. Kelly for his Chicago convictions of kid pornography and enticement of minors for intercourse on Thursday, when the 56-year-old singer will study if he should spend the remainder of his life behind bars or if he can have some hope of getting out alive.
The central query for the choose on the listening to in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago is whether or not to heed prosecutors’ request to order that Kelly serve a brand new sentence solely after he completes his 30-year time period imposed final yr in New York for racketeering and intercourse trafficking.
A sentence that Kelly should serve consecutively can be tantamount to a life sentence.
Prosecutors acknowledge {that a} prolonged time period served after the New York sentence would virtually erase any probability of Kelly ever leaving jail alive. They are saying the Grammy Award-winner’s crimes towards kids and his lack of regret justified that.
They suggest a 25-year sentence served consecutively. That will make him eligible for launch in 2066, a yr shy of his one centesimal birthday. The protection needs a sentence of round 10 years, served concurrently.
If the choose does let Kelly serve his new sentence concurrently with the New York sentence, he’ll serve not more than the 30 years and must be eligible for launch at round age 80 — offering him some hope of someday resuming life outdoors jail.
Jurors in Chicago convicted Kelly final yr on six of 13 counts — three counts of manufacturing baby porn and three of enticement of minors for intercourse. Kelly was acquitted of the marquee rely, alleging he efficiently rigged his 2008 state baby pornography trial.
Kelly rose from poverty in Chicago to grow to be one of many world’s greatest R&B stars. Identified for his smash hit “I Consider I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs reminiscent of “Bump n’ Grind,” he bought tens of millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of ladies started circulating publicly within the Nineties.
In presentencing filings, prosecutors described Kelly as “a serial sexual predator” who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-struck followers to sexually abuse after which discard them.
Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of providing an “embellished narrative” relating to Kelly and searching for to get the choose to hitch what she known as the federal government’s “blood-thirsty marketing campaign to make Kelly an emblem of the #MeToo motion.”
Bonjean stated Kelly has suffered sufficient, together with financially. She stated his price as soon as approached $1 billion, however that he “is now destitute.”
