R Kelly: former music star to serve extra year in jail for child pornography and child enticement convictions

Shamed musician R Kelly will serve an extra year in jail after he was found guilty of child pornography and enticement charges in Chicago

The singer was handed a 20-year prison sentence for the crimes, but 19 of these year will be served simultaneously with a 30-year sentence he is currently undergoing. The 30-year sentence was handed down to Kelly after he was found guilty of seveal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in New York.

Kelly, whose full name is Robert Kelly, was convicted of six of 13 counts during the Chicago trial last year. This includes three counts of producing child porn and three of enticement of minors for sex.

Prosecutors in the case argued that Kelly should have been made to serve the 20-year sentence after he completed his New York sentence. This would have amounted to a de facto life sentence for the former musician, and would have meant that he would most likely not survive his remaining time in prison.

However, the simultaneous sentence means that Kelly, 56, will be eligible for release in his 80s, with the possibility of him lieaving prison alive. Prosecutors said that the so-called ‘life sentence’ would have been justified by his crimes against children and his lack of remorse for the crimes.

Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s lawyer, said that the decision to give the simultaneous sentence was the “right outcome”. She said in a statement after the hearing: “The judge was reasonable. He, I think, took into account both sides and ultimately was fair.”

Judge Harry Leinenweber said at the beginning of the hearing that he refuted the claims that Kelly had incited fear of “bodily harm” in the young girls, instead a fear of “lost affections”. He said: “The (government’s) 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.”

A key witness, who was given the name ‘Jane’ in court, spoke of the impact Kelly’s actions had on her life. She said: “I have lost my dreams to Robert Kelly. I will never get back what I lost to Robert Kelly.

“I have been permanently scarred by Robert. When your virginity is taken by a paedophile at 14 – your life is never your own,”