Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for leading a decades-long effort to recruit and trap teens and women for sex. Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the term in federal court in Brooklyn, nearly a year after a New York jury convicted 55-year-old Kelly. This article contains references to sexual assault and child abuse.
“The verdict is: R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years,” the US law firm for the Eastern District of New York tweeted.
Prosecutors had urged the court to put the artist “I Believe I Can Fly” behind bars for at least 25 years because he still “poses a danger to the public”. In September, the fallen superstar was found guilty of all nine charges he faced, including the most serious racketeering. “His actions were brutal, manipulative, controlling, and coercive. He has shown no remorse or respect for the law,” the prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. Kelly’s lawyers demanded a lighter sentence with a maximum of about 17 years. The verdict comes just over a month before jury selection begins in Kelly’s separate, long-delayed federal trial in Chicago on August 15. In that case, Kelly and two of his former associates would have manipulated the singer’s 2008 pornographic process. and hid years of sexual abuse of minors. The musician who once dominated R&B is also being prosecuted in two other state jurisdictions.
Kelly’s New York conviction was widely seen as a milestone for the #MeToo movement: it was the first major sexual abuse trial in which most accusers were black women.
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It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal charges for the abuse he allegedly inflicted on women and children for decades. Prosecutors had to prove Kelly guilty of racketeering, a federal charge often associated with organized crime syndicates that portray Kelly as the boss of a company of employees who facilitated his abuse. They called 45 witnesses, including 11 alleged victims. They painstakingly presented a pattern of crimes that they say the artist, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, committed with impunity for years, using his fame to prey on the less powerful.
To convict Kelly of racketeering, jurors had to find him guilty of at least two of 14 “basic acts” — the crimes that are part of the broader pattern of illegal misconduct.
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The gruesome testimonies intended to prove those acts included allegations of rape, drugging, incarceration, and child pornography. His accusers described events that often mirrored each other: Many of the alleged victims said they had met the singer at concerts or performances at the mall and then received slips of paper with Kelly’s contact details from members of his entourage. Several said they had been told he could bolster their ambitions in the music industry. But prosecutors argued they were all instead “indoctrinated” into Kelly’s world — groomed for sex at his whim and kept in line by “compulsive means of control,” including isolation and brutal disciplinary action, tapes of which were played before the jury. The state’s case was Kelly’s relationship with the late singer Aaliyah. Kelly wrote and produced her first album – “Age Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number” – before illegally marrying her when she was only 15 because he was afraid he had gotten her pregnant. His former manager admitted in court by bribing an employee to obtain a false identification the union allowed, which was later annulled. If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit. In an emergency, call 000. Anyone seeking information or support related to sexual abuse may contact Bravehearts at 1800 272 831 or Blue Knot at 1300 657 380. Readers seeking crisis support may contact Lifeline at 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service at 1300 659 467, and the Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 (for youths under age 25). More information and support with mental health is available at 1300 22 4636. supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
