R Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison

Disgraced US singer R Kelly, 55 sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking, racketeering convictions His defense attorneys asked for 10 or fewer, saying prosecutors’ request was “tantamount to a life sentence.”

Kelly has been in custody since he was indicted by federal prosecutors in New York and Chicago in July 2019.
In September, a jury in New York Robert Sylvester Kelly, 55 was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes. During the trial last year, the government called 45 witnesses to detail the horrific abuse Kelly subjected his victims to.
Federal prosecutors had recommended that Kelly be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, given the seriousness of his crimes and “the need to protect the public from further crimes”. His lawyers called for a sentence of 10 years – the mandatory minimum for his conviction – or less.

At his six-week trial in Brooklyn heard how he trafficked women between different US states, assisted by managers, security guards and other members of his entourage. The court also heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry late singer Aaliyah when she was 15 in 1994, seven years before the singer died in a plane crash. The certificate, leaked at the time, listed Aaliyah’s age as 18. The marriage was annulled months later.
They portrayed Kelly as growing up poor in a household rife with domestic violence and suffering sexual abuse from a young age.

Ahead of his sentencing, a handful of women took the stand to confront Kelly over his decades-long-abuses. A woman identified only as Angela called the singer a Pied Piper who “grew in wickedness” with every new victim, while others who were not named testified he had broken their spirits. “I literally wished I would die because of how you made me feel,” said one.
In September, a jury of seven men and five women found Kelly guilty on all counts of racketeering after their second day of deliberations. He was been convicted in the sex trafficking trial after decades of allegations about sexual misconduct with minors.