Disgraced R&B icon R. Kelly was given a 30-year prison term on Wednesday, several months after he was found guilty on all nine charges in a prominent s*x trafficking case. After several of Kelly’s victims confronted him aggressively during the hearing in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly delivered the verdict.
She said to him, “You were a person who had great advantages — worldwide fame and celebrity and untold money. You took advantage of their hopes and dreams, holding teenagers in your house trap. You were at the top of your organization, and you raped and beat them, separated them from their families and forced them to do unspeakable things.”
Speaking in court, victims indicated that while under Kelly’s influence, they had hardly any will to live. “You degraded me, humiliated me and broke my spirit,” said one of the victims. “I wished I would die because of how you degraded me. You couldn’t care less. I avoided your name and your songs and suffocated with fear. What you did leave a permanent stain on my life.”
The court heard testimony about how Kelly, who is best known for the hit songs I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition, used his position to seduce women and children over two decades. At his six-week trial in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn jury heard testimony about how he trafficked women between various US states with the help of managers, security personnel, and other members of his group. In 1994, Kelly had also obtained a marriage license to marry singer Aliyah who was just 15 years old back then. The marriage was however annulled later. She died in a plane crash seven years later.
The court also learned how, in 1994, when Kelly was 15 years old and seven years before the singer Aaliyah died in a plane crash, she had gotten marriage licenses in violation of the law.
Given the nature of Kelly’s crimes and “the need to safeguard the public from further crimes,” federal prosecutors had suggested that he get a sentence of at least 25 years in prison. However, his attorneys requested a sentence of 10 years or less, which is the minimum sentence for his crime. They presented Kelly as growing up in a violent home and being subjected to sexual abuse at an early age. They said that he would appeal further since he was “devastated” by the verdict.
Since July 2019, when he was charged by federal prosecutors in Chicago and New York, Kelly has been detained. His three years in prison have been dramatic, with a fight with Covid-19 earlier this year and a beating by a fellow prisoner in 2020.
In August, the singer will go on trial once more—this time in Chicago—on allegations of obstruction and child s*x images. He will also be charged with sexual abuse in courts in Minnesota and Illinois.
