The R&B artist was given a 20-year prison sentence on Thursday by a US judge for child pornography and other offences, but he will spend the majority of it concurrently with a prior sentence.
Kelly is already serving a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking after being found guilty by a Brooklyn jury in a previous federal trial.
According to the Chicago judge’s decision, all but one year of the new sentence will be served concurrently with the old one. His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, is appealing both of Kelly’s federal convictions.
The initial convictions
R. Kelly was convicted in September 2022 on six of the 13 counts alleged in the Chicago trial: three counts of producing child pornography and three of enticement of a minor.
A federal jury cleared the singer of seven additional counts, including the accusation that he interfered with justice during a prior trial. A jury found the singer not guilty in the 2008 child pornography case after Kelly and two former collaborators were accused of manipulating the proceedings.
One year after Kelly’s conviction in New York for routinely enlisting girls and women for sex, he was found guilty on federal charges in Chicago. As the first significant sex assault trial where the majority of the accusers were black women, that verdict was generally seen as a turning point for the #MeToo movement.
It was also the first time Kelly was charged with the abuse of women and children, which had long been rumored.
