A panel of judges in Chicago has upheld R. Kelly's 20-year sentence after he filed an appeal. The disgraced R&B star was convicted on child pornography and child enticement charges in 2022.
The singer is expected to spend 31 years in prison. The 20-year term will be served concurrently with a 30-year sentence he received for racketeering and sex trafficking in New York that same year. In 2023, another year to his sentence for the child pornography and child enticement convictions. Kelly will not be eligible for release until he's 80.
The disgraced R&B singer is expected to spend 31 years in prison.
The musician's attorneys had argued that the child pornography and child enticement charges were filed after the statute of limitations had expired, but the judges didn't agree and moved to uphold the sentence.
"Kelly – interposing a statute-of-limitations defense – thinks he delayed the charges long enough to elude them entirely. The statute says otherwise, so we affirm his conviction," Judge Amy St. Eve wrote in the unanimous ruling.
"An even-handed jury found Kelly guilty, acquitting him on several charges even after viewing those abhorrent tapes. No statute of limitations saves him, and the resulting sentence was procedurally proper and – especially under these appalling circumstances – substantially fair."
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Kelly's lawyer Jennifer Bonjean told TMZ that the legal battle isn't over.
"We will see review from the [United States Supreme Court] on the statute of limitations questions at a minimum," she said. "And he has habeas remedies at his disposal. And if we win in New York, he will be entitled to resentencing in Illinois. So this story is far from over."
The singer is also appealing his sentence in New York. His attorneys have argued that the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries had an impact on the trial. But even if he won that, Kelly would likely spend 18 years in prison.
The first season of the series aired on Lifetime in 2019. A follow-up season which covered the federal trial premiered in 2022.
'No statute of limitations saves him,' a judge said of the singer's appeal attempt.
Kelly was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. He and his siblings were raised by a single mother.
His first full-length album Born Into the 90's dropped in 1992 and peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200. Kelly's sophomore effort 12 Play made it to No. 2 on the chart. The singer's third self-titled album was his first No. 1 record. He had five others in the years that followed.
He may be best known for the singles "Bump n' Grind," "I Believe I Can Fly" and "I'm Your Angel," which featured Celine Dion.
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