R Kelly has been sentenced to 20 years in jail by a US court for child pornography and enticing of kids for sex.
US District Judge Harry Leinenweber said Thursday that the R&B singer could serve the majority of his new sentence concurrently with his existing 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
What it means is that he will only serve one additional year of prison time, avoiding a lengthier stay behind bars had the judge agreed to prosecutors’ requests that the two sentences be served back to back.
In a statement read aloud to the court, a victim identified as “Jane” expressed the pain she endured as a teenager assaulted by Kelly.
“I have lost my dreams to Robert Kelly,” she wrote. “I have been permanently scarred.”
Government prosecutors had pushed for the new sentence to begin only after the 56-year-old Kelly had completed the previous 30-year sentence. They cited his lack of remorse and crimes against children.
They acknowledged that doing so would nearly guarantee that Kelly would spend the rest of his life in prison. With Thursday’s sentence, Kelly will serve a maximum of 31 years behind bars and become eligible for release around the age of 80.
