There are 25 more years of prison for R. Kelly

A Cook County Sheriff’s Attorney’s Office for Sustaining R. Kelly in Charge of a Sexual Abuse Advancing a Child Pornographer

The Illinois charges – aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse counts involving four accusers – are being dropped in part because of the prison sentences he’s already facing for his federal convictions, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said Monday.

The Chicago verdict came months after a federal judge in New York sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking. Based on that sentence alone, he wouldn’t eligible for release until he is around 80.

Kelly was found guilty of producing child pornography, but not of receiving child porn, and jurors acquitted him of obstruction of justice.

If Kelly were to be granted time off for good behavior, he would only be released after 25 years, the government said in Thursday’s filing.

It was difficult for the victims to come forward and tell their stories. I applaud their courage and have the utmost respect for everyone who came forward,” Foxx said in a news release.

Due to the sentences that Mr. Kelly is facing, we feel that justice has been served.

Cook County prosecutors called on people who had been victims of abuse to come forward after seeing the Lifetime documentary show Surviving R. Kelly.

“My office will direct our resources to find justice for other victims of sexual abuse who do not have the power of a documentary to bring their abusers to light,” Foxx added.

Defending R. Kelly in New York and Chicago: A 35-year prison sentence for his pornographic and enticement convictions

CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors Thursday asked a judge to give singer R. Kelly 25 more years in prison for his child pornography and enticement convictions last year in Chicago, which would add to 30 years he recently began serving in a New York case.

“A consecutive sentence is eminently reasonable given the egregiousness of Kelly’s conduct,” the filing argued. Kelly’s abuse of children was deliberate and frequent.

Prosecutors acknowledged that a 25-year sentence in the Chicago case would be more time than even sentencing guidelines recommend. But they argued imposing a long sentence and instructing it be served only after the New York sentence was appropriate.

Bonjean said that Kelly’s life of traumas, such as abuse as a child and illiteracy throughout adulthood, justified leniency in the singer’s sentence.

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, rose from poverty in Chicago to superstardom, becoming known for smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind.”

The airing of Lifetime’s docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly,” featuring testimonials by his accusers, unleashed criminal investigations that were in high-gear, ending with federal and new state.

It will be up to Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago to decide the crucial question of whether Kelly serves whatever sentence he imposes concurrently, simultaneously, with the New York sentence or consecutively.

“While Kelly was not a child in the late 1990s, he also was not the middle-aged man he was at the time of his 2019 indictment,” she argued. In his late 20s Kelly was a damaged man.

She said that Kelly has already paid a steep price for his legal troubles. He had a worth of over $1 billion, but he’s now penniless.