Singer R. Kelly is sentenced to 30 years in prison 2:26
(CNN) -
Singer R. Kelly was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison in Chicago federal court on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor.
This is the second lengthy sentence for R. Kelly in the last year, in 2021 a New York court sentenced him to 30 years in jail.
Kelly, 56, is already serving the sentence he received last year on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking.
In Chicago court, US District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber said 19 years of the 20-year prison sentence would run concurrently with the previous sentence.
The remaining year would be served consecutively, or after that sentence is completed, he explained.
Kelly was convicted last September on three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
A motion for a new trial was denied last week.
Timeline of the case against R. Kelly: extortion, sex trafficking and a sentence of 30 years in prison
Prior to sentencing, prosecutor Christopher Brown read a statement from one of Kelly's victims, identified as "Jane".
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"I have lost my dignity because of Robert Kelly. I have lost my dreams because of Robert Kelly. I have lost my adolescence with Robert Kelly," the statement read.
She said Kelly was "abusive and domineering", and it caused her to have suicidal thoughts.
"I will always be the girl that R. Kelly urinated on," Jane said through the prosecutor, referencing the infamous sex tape that was exposed during her trial showing Kelly urinating on a victim.
The sentencing hearing is the culmination of nearly three decades of allegations against Kelly of sexual abuse of underage girls, allegations first reported in the
Chicago Sun-Times
.
In 2002, Kelly was indicted on child pornography charges for allegedly recording himself having sex with an unidentified minor, but he was acquitted in 2008.
Amid the allegations, Kelly was one of the most successful R&B artists of the 1990s and 2000s, known for the hit songs "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition (Remix)," and "I Believe I Can Fly." , for which he received three Grammy Awards.
He has been nominated for 26 Grammys in all, including in 2015.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Kelly faced further criminal charges in a 2017 BuzzFeed article and in the January 2019 Lifetime documentary "Surviving R. Kelly."
A month later, he was indicted in Cook County, Illinois, on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, with two federal indictments to follow in July 2019.
Prosecutors asked for a 25-year sentence for R. Kelly
Prosecutors had asked for Kelly to serve a 25-year sentence after completing his other 30-year prison sentence.
"Robert Kelly is a serial sexual predator who, over the course of many years, specifically assaulted young girls and went to great lengths to conceal his abuse of Jane and other minor victims," prosecutors said in a document.
"To this day, and even after the jury's verdict against him, Kelly refuses to accept responsibility for his crimes."
The defense said in its filing that Kelly is already serving a "de facto life sentence" and called for any sentence to be served concurrently with the 30-year sentence in the New York case.
"In the unlikely event that Kelly survives her 30-year sentence, there is no reason to believe she would re-offend as a geriatric in her mid-80s," her attorneys wrote.
"The overwhelming majority of Kelly's criminal conduct was committed a quarter of a century ago."
What happened in the trials
The federal trial in Chicago last September was based on allegations from five minors who prosecutors say were abused by Kelly in the late 1990s when he made explicit videos with four of them.
One of the witnesses in the trial, a 37-year-old woman, spoke in federal court under the pseudonym Jane and testified that Kelly began having sexual activities with her when she was 14 and had sexual relations with her at 15. She said that he had sex "hundreds" of times before he turned 18.
She testified that she had falsely denied having a sexual relationship during interviews with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Chicago police investigators, and a grand jury in 2002.
"Why did you lie?" a prosecutor asked Jane in court.
"Because I was afraid of exposing Robert. Because I was afraid of what could happen to my parents," she said.
"I didn't want to be that person either."
The jury convicted Kelly of six counts, including three counts of producing videos depicting sexual conduct with Jane and three counts of inciting Jane and two other minors to engage in sexual activity.
He was acquitted of seven other charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Two associates were cleared of all charges.
At the time of the federal trial in Chicago, Kelly had already been convicted of extortion and sex trafficking in a federal trial in New York.
In that case, prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York charged Kelly with using her celebrity status and a "network of individuals at her disposal to assault girls, boys and young women for her own sexual gratification."
The New York trial included testimony from witnesses who said Kelly sexually and physically abused them.
The court also heard people involved in orchestrating Kelly's 1994 marriage to the late singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 and he was an adult after she believed she had become pregnant.
Last month, prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois dropped state sex crime charges against Kelly, citing in part his lengthy federal sentence.
"I understand how difficult it was for these victims to come forward and tell their stories. I applaud their courage and have the utmost respect for everyone who came forward," Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said in a statement from press.
"While this may not be the outcome you were hoping for, due to the sentences Mr. Kelly faces, we feel that justice has been served."
Sonia Moghe and Dakin Andone, both with CNN, contributed to this report.
R. Kelly
