It has been confirmed that disgraced singer R Kelly will serve an additional year in prison on later charges relating to indecent images of children and child enticement. The year will be added to last year’s 30-year sentence he incurred for sex trafficking and racketeering, a federal judge has ruled.
The former R&B star, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Thursday, but it has been revealed that he will serve 19 of these concurrently alongside the sentence he received in 2022.
Following his initial trial, which took place in New York in 2021, Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and trafficking. The case had been built over many years of accusation throughout his career.
The new sentencing on Thursday means Kelly will serve no longer than 31 years in prison. The 56-year-old will be eligible for parole before he reaches 80.
The main point of inquiry leading to Thursday’s ruling in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago was whether District Judge Harry Leinenweber would order the 56-year-old to serve the additional sentence simultaneously with or only after he completes his 30-year sentence.
If it had been the latter, Kelly would likely never leave prison. The prosecution was aware of this and argued that the singer’s crimes against children and his lack of remorse justified the life sentence. Two of Kelly’s accusers reportedly asked the judge to punish him heavily.
In a statement read aloud in court, a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” said that, because of Kelly’s actions, she had lost her early aspirations to become a singer and any hopes of fulfilling relationships.
Although the accusations against Kelly had mounted slowly since the 1990s, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the #MeToo campaign of recent years and public outcry following the 2019 TV series Surviving R Kelly.
