A federal judge has rejected prosecutors’ call to keep troubled American R&B singer Robert Kelly popularly known in music circles as R Kelly behind bars until age 100.
In a courtroom in Chicago, judge Harry Leinenweber said R Kelly would serve all but one year of his sentence concurrently with a previous 30-year sentence for federal racketeering and s3x trafficking convictions in the city of New York last year.
The ruling by judge Harry Leinenweber means that Kelly, who is currently 56 years old, could be released from prison when he is approximately 80-years old.
READ ALSO: S3X ASSAULT: Singer R Kelly denied all motions for acquittal and a new federal trial
“Robert Kelly is a serial s3xual predator who, over the course of many years, specifically targeted young girls and went to great lengths to conceal his abuse of Jane and other minor victims,” prosecutors said in a filing. “To this day, and even following the jury 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 asked for any sentence to be served at the same time as his 30-year sentence in the New York case.
“In the unlikely event that Kelly was to survive his 30-year sentence, there is no reason to believe he would reoffend as a geriatric in his mid-80s,” his attorneys wrote. “The overwhelming majority of Kelly’s criminal conduct was committed a quarter century ago.”
Serial sexual predator R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in his Chicago child-pornography case, his second sentencing in the last year. The disgraced R&B singer is already serving a 30-year prison term for racketeering and sex-trafficking charges in New York. pic.twitter.com/CqHDDq2r4j
— POPSUGAR (@POPSUGAR) February 23, 2023
