R. Kelly and his lawyers are seeking a reprieve with regard to his child pornography conviction in his Chicago federal trial. The R&B singer’s attorneys requested a limit of 11 years on his sentence on Friday (Feb. 10). The 56-year-old is slated to serve 30 years in prison after being found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York in June 2022.
In September 2022, the GRAMMY winner was convicted of three counts of production of child pornography and three counts of child enticement, for alleged sexual affairs with three underage girls. The five-week trial included 34 total witnesses and Kelly was acquitted of seven counts.
The Chicago Tribune reported that one attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, hopes that the porn conviction sentence can be served concurrently with the aforementioned 30-year sentence. She stated that the Chicago artist is already facing what amounts to a life sentence and is being punished for things that happened over a quarter century ago, which is coincidentally around the number of years that Kelly has received these kinds of allegations since his marriage to the late Aaliyah.
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Bonjean also argued that the sexual abuse that the songwriter experienced as a child does not justify his behavior, but provided context as to his perception of what is right or wrong with regard to interpersonal sexual activity.
One victim stated she hopes that R. Kelly is kept in prison for the rest of his life, which is possible as the maximum sentence he can face in Chicago is 90 years. Though his sex abuse charges were recently dropped in Illinois, R. Kelly’s next sentencing hearing will still take place on Feb. 23 at the federal District Court in Chicago.
