R. Kelly gets extra prison time after latest sex abuse conviction

Disgraced singer R. Kelly faces an additional year in prison on top of a 30-year sentence he’s already serving.

Kelly was sentenced to three decades in prison in June 2022 after a trial in New York on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

A few months later, he was convicted in a second federal trial in Chicago of seducing minors into sex and producing sexual images of children.

He has now received a 20-year sentence for those crimes, but 19 are being served concurrently with the previous sentence.

With full board, he sits behind bars until his mid-80s.

Federal prosecutors sought a 25-year sentence in the second case, more than federal guidelines required for a conviction. They said Kelly’s crimes were compounded by the fact that he filmed them, with some of the footage later available online.

“Because Kelly is Kelly, more people viewed child pornography,” the memo said. “The ramifications of Kelly’s behavior are far-reaching, incalculable and irreversible.”

The memo argued that Kelly had an “insatiable” desire to abuse children and that a lengthy prison sentence was necessary to protect “the community” from further harm.

Kelly’s defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean had asked the judge to allow Kelly to serve his last sentence concurrently with the previous sentence, meaning he would have served them concurrently. She said a consecutive sentence would amount to a “second life sentence.”

She also accused prosecutors of using “embellished” narrative to “ignite” perceptions of the former R&B star.

During the Chicago trial, the victim – known by the alias “Jane” – testified that Kelly sexually abused her hundreds of times before she was 18.

During the trial, the jury was shown three videos of the abuse. Four other women also accused Kelly of abusing them as children.

At his previous trial in New York, the jury heard that Kelly, with the help of his managers and other members of his entourage, sold women for sexual abuse purposes in the United States.

Best known for songs like Ignition (remix) and the hugely popular 1996 anthem, I Believe I Can Fly, the Grammy-winning singer is among the most notorious musicians killed in the #MeToo abuse movement be blamed.