R Kelly — © AP
R. Kelly’s twenty-year prison sentence for child pornography and extortion is justified. The court in Chicago that heard the appeal decided this. ABC News reports this.
Kelly was found guilty in 2021 of, among other things, leading an organization that aimed to abuse women and girls. The former singer was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Kelly was later sentenced in Chicago to an additional 20 years in prison. The American appealed against both rulings.
READ ALSO. The man who believed he could fly is now flying in jail: the hallucinatory story of R. Kelly, who thought he could get away with anything (+)
Kelly’s legal team, which has always denied the allegations, made several arguments to dispute the validity of the 20-year prison sentence. The panel labeled this as an attempt by Kelly to avoid charges completely and did not agree.
“Disappointed”
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, said in a statement that they plan to ask the Supreme Court to review the ruling. “We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over.”
Prosecutors in Chicago, Kelly’s hometown, previously demanded a harsher sentence than the twenty-year prison sentence, namely 25 years in prison. Moreover, they wanted that prison sentence to only start after Kelly had served the thirty-year sentence. That was rejected and the American may serve the sentences of twenty and thirty years concurrently.
