R&B singer R. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted last September after a five-and-a-half week long trial over accusations of sexual abuse. Now it’s been revealed that he’s been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
As noted via Reuters, he was convicted of nine charges after several women testified against him. These women claimed that “he had promised to mentor them and help them attain stardom, only to subject them to degrading sexual treatment and physical harm.” Furthermore, they “said the abuse led to mental health problems that persist.”
As a result, after the prosecutors insisted that R. Kelly illustrated “callous disregard” for his victims and no signs of remorse, they urged for a sentence of more than 25 years.
“Kelly was convicted on nine criminal charges, including one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.”
With that stated, his defense team felt otherwise. In fact, they insisted that R. Kelly deserved no more than 10 years in prison. Their reasoning? They claim that his childhood abuse is a reason for his “hypersexuality” as an adult. Furthermore, they believed that he was no longer a threat to any women. One of his victims, a woman identified as Jane Doe No. 2, made the following statement during her testimony:
“As a teenager, I didn’t know how to say no to R. Kelly when he asked me to perform oral sex on him,” she said before pausing.
At that moment, she looked at Kelly, and asked the following:
“Do you remember that?”
As for what will happen next following the sentence:
“He will likely be transported soon to a jail in Chicago, where he faces an August trial in federal court on child pornography and obstruction charges. He also faces various state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.”
The R&B singer has remained in jail since July 2019.