R. Kelly Sentenced to One Additional Year in Prison over Federal Child Pornography Charges

BY ALTHEA LEGASPI, DANIEL KREPS

Chicago, IL ­— R. Kelly was sentenced to only one additional year in prison over federal child pornography charges in Chicago on Thursday. Last September, a federal jury convicted the disgraced singer on six of 13 counts, including three counts each of producing child pornography and enticing minors into illegal sexual activity.

On Thursday, at Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, Judge Harry Leinenweber essentially sentenced Kelly to one year of prison to be tacked onto the 30-year prison sentence he’s already serving after being convicted in 2021 in New York of sexual exploitation of a child, racketeering, bribery and sex trafficking. (The singer is currently appealing the New York sentence.)

Officially, Leinenweber gave Kelly a 20-year sentence, 19 years of which Kelly would serve concurrently with the New York sentence, plus the one additional year for the Chicago charges.

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors asked Judge Harry Leinenweber that Kelly — born Robert Sylvester Kelly — be sentenced for 25 more years in prison, higher than sentencing guidelines recommend, and that he serve it after finishing his time in the New York case, where he is already serving 30 years.

Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, had argued in a filing that her client serve 10 years, at the lower end of the sentencing guidelines. His attorneys also filed motions to either overturn the conviction or grant him a new trial, which the judge denied earlier this month. At Thursday’s sentencing, Bonjean recommended a 14-year sentence that, most importantly, ran concurrently with his New York sentence. A consecutive prison term, Bonjean acknowledged, would essentially mean life in prison for Kelly. “Black men, with diabetes, do not live into their 80s in prison,” she told the judge.

During sentencing, Leinenweber, himself in his 80s, admitted that Kelly’s age at the end of his New York sentence would factor into his Chicago sentencing, and remarked that octogenarians are more concerned about their prostate and arthritis than young girls. (If he serves his complete 31-year-sentence, the now-56-year-old Kelly will be in his mid-80s when he’s released from prison.) The judge also brought up that the Chicago federal case was initially up for prosecution before the New York case, but Covid protocols changed things. Had it gone first, he said he would have sentenced Kelly to 240 months, which appeared to inform the basis of his ruling on Thursday.

Prior to sentencing, three victim impact statements were shared with the court. Christopher Brown, the attorney for “Jane” who was central to the case and the previous 2008 Chicago trial, read her statement. In it, she said she lost so much to Robert Kelly in addition to her virginity, including her dignity, dreams, and childhood. She confessed she had suicidal thoughts, recounted the “degrading” rules she was subjected to, and detailed how her life was altered by the tapes he made of him sexually assaulting her. “Robert shattered me,” she said in the statement. “I will forever be the girl that Robert Kelly pissed on.” She added: “Robert Kelly needs to be in jail for the balance of his natural born life.”

Another victim, “Nia” tearfully described how she met Kelly as an insecure teenager at a mall in Georgia, and how when he invited her to his concert in Minnesota that it made her feel special. She reiterated her previous testimony from the trial, explaining that he had put her up in a hotel, where he showed up in the morning, made her undress, and then “molested me” and recounted another incident at his Chicago studio a few months later. “I was completely damaged by you on the inside,” she told the court on Thursday.

The victim known as “Pauline” also addressed the court. She said she “had once loved Robert,” but meeting him has led to her undergoing therapy for depression and thoughts of suicide. As she had previously testified during trial, during the sentencing she said she was “best friends” with Jane, and that she “lost” her friendship, and also her mental health has suffered because of her encounters with Kelly.

Appearing in an orange jail jumpsuit and flanked by two of his lawyers, the bespectacled Kelly did not meet eyes with the victims as they spoke. Instead, he focused his gaze at the table top where he sat, his only expression a furrowed brow and frown.

Instead of enacting a sentence that would run entirely concurrent with the 30-year prison sentence, thus nullifying any real punishment in the Chicago trial at all, Leinenweber instead opted for the one-year sentence to be served consecutively. However, Leinenweber said that Kelly could be eligible for parole three years after the concurrent prison sentences.

Another matter of contention during the sentencing is the restitution the government sought for the victims in the case. Leinenweber said outside of Pauline’s citations of the cost of her therapy ($42,000, which she was granted on Thursday in restitution), there was no proven expenses to grant further restitution and he said the victims should pursue civil suits.

“I think that’s still a subject that’s going to have to be dealt with by the government,” Brown, Jane’s lawyer, told Rolling Stone following the hearing.

Kelly declined to speak on his behalf at the sentencing hearing, on advice from his lawyer, only answering a few questions from the judge about his understanding of the proceedings. As Kelly was escorted out of the courtroom, his supporters — who have been present throughout the trial — shouted “we support you” and “we love you.”

Following the sentencing, Bonjean addressed the media and the sentencing. “Ultimately, running the sentences concurrently and just adding one year is a win.” She said her and her team’s priorities are focused on challenging the New York case. “We will appeal this case as well,” she said.

Brown told Rolling Stone that he and his client felt that, “In this situation, 20 years in jail to run concurrently with his New York sentence seems appropriate under the guidelines.” He added that Jane “finally has a sense of closure” and that she had no further statements “as she continues to let this all sink in.”

Flanked by the prosecution team following Thursday’s hearing, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch admitted they were “disappointed” that they didn’t get the consecutive sentence they had pushed for and in the ruling on restitution. “Restitution is critically important these cases… And again, just to be frank about it, we are disappointed that that that did not turn out differently at this point,” he said. “But to come back to the baseline — again 20 years is significant sentence. And we are happy that that that was imposed in this case, and that does ensure the safety of the community for those years, at least based on these facts in this particular case.” When asked if there is anything they can do regarding the restitution, he said, “It’s complex” and that he wasn’t comfortable on commenting on it, leaving the door open that the issue could be legally addressed in the future.

Last month, in light of his convictions in New York and Chicago, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced that the state was dropping the then-pending sexual assault and abuse cases, where he was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were under the age of consent. 

After a dramatic, graphic five-week trial, a federal jury in Chicago found Kelly guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticement of a child last year. The video central to the federal Chicago case was also the one involved in the 2008 child pornography trial where he was acquitted involving “Jane,” Kelly’s goddaughter, who tearfully testified that Kelly filmed him sexually abusing her beginning when she was 14. Parts of the tapes were played during the trial. Prosecutors also tried to argue last year that Kelly’s then-business manager Derrel McDavid had rigged the 2008 trial, but failed to convince the jury on that count, and acquitted Kelly and his two co-defendants, McDavid and Milton “June” Brown, of conspiring to receive the footage that was shown in court. 

Kelly is also facing charges of engaging in prostitution with a minor and soliciting a minor for sexual purposes in Minnesota.

From Rolling Stone US.