R kelly singer1/6/2024 ![]() They described how Kelly married R&B singer Aaliyah in a Chicago hotel room in 1994, when she was 15 years old, and how a member of Kelly's team later bribed a welfare office employee into making a fake identification card, to indicate she 27 years old. His defense lawyers portrayed Kelly as generous to future would-be singers, and that he was the victim of overzealous, lying fans and girlfriends who wanted to use their connection to him to become famous, after their music careers fizzled.īut prosecutors also accused Kelly's entourage of often covering for his illicit activities. Some of that abuse, prosecutors said, was captured on video that he himself recorded. The 54-year-old Robert Kelly had a string of hit songs in the 1990's, including his biggest, "I Believe I Can Fly", which won a Grammy award in 1996.īut rumors persisted for years that he was engaged in illicit activities with women and minors in his hometown of Chicago, and prosecutors said that for at least two decades, Kelly would lure them into his sphere, and later physically and sexually abuse them. He faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison when he is sentenced on May 4 of next year. ![]() Specifically, a federal jury in New York found him guilty of racketeering and eight counts of violating of the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across US state lines for prostitution.Ī grim-faced Kelly listened as the jury returned its verdict after a trial that lasted more than five weeks, and two days of jury deliberations. Kelly was found guilty on Monday of all the counts he faced, in a trial featuring lurid accusations that he sexually and physically abused and exploited girls and women for decades. Kelly declined to make a statement due to the other pending cases.1990's superstar R&B singer R. He is also facing charges of soliciting a minor and prostitution in Minnesota.īefore sentencing on Wednesday, R. In addition to the New York case, Kelly is due to stand trial on August 1st in Chicago on federal charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice. Kelly” sparked a renewed interest in the allegations. The #MeToo movement, a BuzzFeed investigation into parents’ claims he was mistreating their daughters, and the 2019 documentary series “Surviving R. He was indicted on child pornography charges in Chicago in 2002, but a jury found him not guilty after a trial in 2008. Several women gave victim impact statements before the sentence was handed down on Wednesday. We’ve always believed in those arguments and we believe that this enterprise was overcharged,” Bonjean said after the singer’s sentence was announced.ĭuring the six-week trial, nine women and two men made allegations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse against the 55-year-old, with some testifying that they were minors when the encounters began. But we are confident in our arguments that we raised in our post-trial motions, that although they didn’t persuade the district court judge that they will persuade the court of appeals. He has been sentenced to a serious sentence. We are excited about this appeal that we are bringing. Kelly directly, saying: “These crimes were calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years… You taught them that love is enslavement and violence.”įederal prosecutors had urged the judge to impose a sentence “in excess of 25 years,” while his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, called for a sentence of under ten years before the hearing.īonjean said R. Judge Donnelly spent time outlining instances of abuse and violence documented during the trial and addressed R. Judge Donnelly stated, “the public has to be protected from behaviors like this.” Kelly will be 85 years old when he finishes his prison sentence. Donnelly handed the musician the jail term of 30 years in addition to a $100,000 fine and five years of supervised probation if the singer makes it through his sentence. In Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday, Judge Ann M. ![]() The “I Believe I Can Fly” hitmaker, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty last September of one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating an anti-sex trafficking law known as the Mann Act for leading a scheme to recruit women as well as underage girls and boys, for sex. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday following his sex crime trial in New York, and while most celebrated the singer’s incarceration, some of his fans were incensed.
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