The verdict is out and embattled American singer/songwriter R. Kelly has been sentenced to thirty years in prison, as he was found guilty on all nine charges, one count of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking & sex related crimes.
See Reactions As R Kelly Set To Spend 30 Years In Prison
Judge Ann M. Donnelly handed down the sentence yesterday after the court heard statements from the singers’ victims at the US District Court in Brooklyn.
The judge reading her sentence said,
“These crimes were calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost twenty-five years, you taught them that love is enslavement and violence.”
If you would recall, federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of more than twenty-five years for the fifty-five-year-old, citing the need to protect the public from further crimes.
The singer’s lawyers were however seeking the minimum of ten years laying out their arguments for leniency citing his highly chaotic childhood home where he was sexually abused.
Just so you know, R. Kelly has been in custody since 2019, when he was charged by federal prosecutors in Chicago and New York, Kelly has been detained.
His three years in prison have been dramatic, with a fight with Covid-19 earlier this year and a beating by a fellow prisoner in 2020.
In August, the singer will go on trial once more—this time in Chicago—on allegations of obstruction and child sex imagery.
He will also be charged with sexual abuse in courts in Minnesota and Illinois.
See the video below for more!
