The 20-year prison sentence for child pornography of American singer R. Kelly, a fallen R&B star already sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex crimes, was confirmed on appeal.
A federal court in Chicago on Friday rejected the defense arguments of Robert Sylvester Kelly, 57, who claimed that the statute of limitations for prosecution had passed.
The artist, known worldwide for his hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and his 75 million records sold, had long reigned over R&B despite suspicions of sexual assault.
He was convicted in September 2021 of having operated for years a “system” of sexual exploitation of young people, including teenage girls, and sentenced in June 2022 to 30 years in prison by a federal court in New York, a sentence that he is currently serving.
In February 2023, he was also sentenced to twenty years in prison for production of child pornography and embezzlement of a minor. The judge ordered that he only serve one more year in prison after he had served his first sentence.
Singer R. Kelly during a hearing at the Leighton Courthouse on September 17, 2019 in Chicago
POOL/AFP/Archives/Antonio Perez
“For years, Robert Sylvester Kelly committed sexual violence against underage girls,” according to the judgment handed down Friday. “By using a complex scheme to silence the victims, he dodged the consequences for a long time” but “these crimes finally caught up with him.”
The singer’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said he would appeal to the Supreme Court. “We are disappointed with the judgment but our fight is far from over,” she said in a statement according to American media.
The trials against R. Kelly were seen as a major milestone in the #MeToo movement: for the first time, the majority of plaintiffs were black women accusing a black artist and obtaining justice.
Excerpts from videos showing sexual violence committed by R. Kelly on young girls, one of whom was only 14 years old, were broadcast during the trial.
For decades, R. Kelly’s success had been tarnished by suspicions of sexual violence, the subject of persistent rumors. He had long managed to silence them with financial agreements providing for confidentiality clauses.
The singer, one of the biggest American celebrities of the 1990s, was briefly married in 1994 to 15-year-old star Aaliyah, whose parents then had the marriage annulled. The singer and actress died in a plane crash in 2001.
R&B singer R. Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, following the sentencing hearing at Brooklyn Federal Court in New York on June 29, 2022
AFP/Archives/TIMOTHY A. CLARY
The first accusations against the singer emerged more than twenty years ago. He was charged in 2002 for filming sexual acts between himself and a 14-year-old girl, but was ultimately acquitted in 2008.
His record company RCA, a subsidiary of Sony Music, dropped him in early 2019 after a documentary accusing him of multiple sexual assaults and in February of the same year he was charged with sexual assault, particularly on minors.
