According to reports, R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. He is presently being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn but will be moved back to Chicago, where he is also facing trial on child pornography and obstruction charges.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly imposed the sentence on Kelly and ordered him to pay a $100,000 fine. Kelly did not address the court.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, Kelly’s sentence is of ‘significant outcome’ to his victims. He stated, “Kelly preyed upon children and young women..for decades. He would force victims, including minors to be in porno films that the singer produced and directed. The sentence shows that the witnesses reclaim control over their lives”.
“This is a victory for them. It doesn’t matter how powerful.. justice only hears the truth”, he added.
The “Storm is over” singer was convicted on one count of racketeering. The racketeering includes 14 underlying acts of sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery, and sex trafficking charges.
R. Kelly was also convicted of eight violations of the Mann Act. The legislation makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for “immoral purposes.” The trial lasted just over a month.
R. Kelly’s lawyers had argued he should get no more than 10 years in prison because he had a traumatic childhood ‘involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence’. Jennifer Bonjean, his lawyer, said Kelly has a history of being generous and is “widely accepted as a musical genius” and that his sentence should not be “based on inflamed emotions” but on the nature of the charges that he was convicted of in September. “Mr. Kelly rejects that’s he’s this monster”, she added.
