​R. Kelly receives 20 year sentence for child pornography and sexual abuse charges

WARNING: This article includes accounts of sexual harassment and may be distressing for some readers. Resources for support are listed at the end of this article

Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly has been given a 20-year sentence for convictions of child sex crimes and indecent images of minors.

Judge Harry Leinenweber ruled that Kelly will serve an additional year in jail on top of his recent conviction in New York, where he was given a 30-year sentence for racketeering charges.

The sentencing took place on Thursday, February 23, in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago, where District Judge Leinenweber sealed the singer’s fate and imposed a longer sentence for the 56-year-old.

The latest conviction, which is set to be served simultaneously with his 30-year sentence, will mean Kelly will stay behind bars until he’s around 80 years old.

In 2022, following a high-profile case in New York, Kelly was given 30 years in prison for crimes relating to sex trafficking and racketeering.

Going into the recent case, the court argued whether the 20-year sentence should be added on top of Kelly’s current jail time, which would be tantamount to a life sentence. This would also have meant there would be no way in which the 56-year-old would ever come out alive.

Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s lawyer, argued that this would be "overkill”, and saw the prosecution as a “bloodthirsty campaign to make Kelly a symbol of the #MeToo movement”.

Speaking in court, Judge Leinenweber said: “The whole theory of grooming was sort of the opposite of fear of bodily harm. It was the fear of lost love, lost affections [from Kelly]. It just doesn’t seem to me that it rises to the fear of bodily harm.”

The additional sentence in relation to the ownership of child sexual abuse images and the enticement and abuse of minors will be served as one additional year following his sentence in New York.

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Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter