On Friday, a federal appeals court correctly sentenced Chicago singer R. Kelly to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of child molestation.
Jurors in 2022 found the Grammy-winning R&B singer, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, guilty of three counts of making child sexual abuse images and three counts of sexually enticing a minor. was found guilty.
In his appeal, Kelly argued that Illinois’ previous short statute of limitations for prosecuting child sexual abuse crimes should have applied to the Chicago case, rather than the current law that allows charges to be filed while the accuser is alive.
He also argued that the charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from those involving the other three accusers, citing video evidence that was the focus of the Chicago trial.
Federal prosecutors said the video showed Kelly abusing the girl. The accuser, identified only as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 years old when the video was shot.
In Friday’s ruling, a three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that jurors found seven of the 13 charges against Kelly “despite viewing the damning tapes. “He pointed out that he was acquitted.
The appeals court also rejected Mr. Kelly’s argument that the allegations should not have been brought because they occurred, although Illinois law requires child sexual abuse charges to be brought within 10 years. The panel deemed this an attempt by Kelly to escape charges altogether after “employing a complex scheme to silence his victims”.
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said in a written statement that she plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision and “pursue all appellate remedies until R. Kelly is released.”
“While we are disappointed by this verdict, our fight is not over yet,” she said.
Prosecutors in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago had asked for an even harsher sentence of 25 years in prison. They also asked the judge not to allow that term to begin until Mr. Kelly completes a 30-year prison sentence imposed in New York in 2022 for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Judge Harry Leinenweber denied the request and ordered Kelly to serve 20 years in prison from the Chicago case concurrently with his New York sentence.
Mr. Kelly filed a separate appeal against the New York ruling.
In arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit last month, Bonjean asked the commission to find that prosecutors unfairly used racketeering laws designed to thwart organized crime in going after the singer. .
