The 55-year-old singer-songwriter was convicted of blackmail and sexual harassment last year in a trial that gave voice to accusers who once wondered if their stories were ignored because they were black women. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the sentence after hearing several survivors confirming how Kelly’s exploitation resonated throughout their lives. “You made me do things that broke my spirit. I literally wished I could die because of how low you made me feel,” said an anonymous survivor, speaking directly to Kelly, who kept his arms crossed and his eyes lowered. “Do you remember that?” Kelly, 55, did not speak at the sentencing, where he was also fined $ 100,000. She was convicted last year of blackmail and sexual assault in a trial that gave voice to accusers who had previously wondered if their stories were ignored because they were black women.
A case of “violence, cruelty and control”, says the judge
“While sex was definitely a weapon you used, it is not sex. It is a case of violence, cruelty and control,” the judge told Kelly. The sentence closes a slow-moving drop for Kelly, who was adored by legions of fans and sold millions of albums even after allegations of abuse of young girls that went public in the 1990s. The widespread outrage over Kelly’s sexual harassment did not come before the MeToo calculation, reaching the crescendo after the release of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly. Kelly manipulated millions of fans into believing she was someone other than the one the jury saw, another prosecutor said. The victims “tried to be heard and identified,” he said. “We are no longer the prey we once were.” A third woman who cried as she spoke said Kelly’s belief had restored her faith in the legal system. “I once lost hope,” he told the court and prosecutors, “but you have restored my faith.” The woman said Kelly remembered her after she went to a concert when she was 17. She said she did not speak at the time because she was “scared, naive and did not know how to handle the situation”. “Silence,” he said, “is a very lonely place.” Singer R. Kelly is back to leave after appearing at a Leighton Criminal Court hearing on September 17, 2019 in Chicago. Kelly was convicted of sexually abusing a fall in a New York court last fall. (Antonio Perez / Getty Images)
The lawyers wanted a milder sentence
Kelly’s lawyers argued in court documents that he should not have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison because he “experienced a traumatic childhood that included severe, prolonged child sexual abuse, poverty and violence.” “As an adult with ‘lack of literacy’, the star has repeatedly been deceived and financially abused, often by the people he paid to protect him,” his lawyers said. The Grammy-winning multi-platinum singer is best known for songs such as the 1996 hit I Believe I Can Fly and the cult hit Trapped in the Closet. Allegations that Kelly abused young girls began to circulate in public in the 1990s. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who allegedly sexually harassed and sexually harassed her while she was a minor and later faced criminal child pornography charges against a different girl in Chicago. A court there acquitted him in 2008 and settled the lawsuit. All this time, Kelly has continued to sell millions of albums. The Brooklyn federal court convicted him after hearing how he used the escort of his managers and assistants to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation that prosecutors said was tantamount to a criminal operation. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, used his “fame, money and popularity” to “hunt down children and young women for his own sexual gratification,” prosecutors wrote in a court statement earlier this month. Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverted and sadistic whims when they were minors. Prosecutors allege they were instructed to sign non-disclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishment, such as violent beatings, for violating what someone called “Robb’s rules.” Some said they believed the videotapes they had sex with would be used against them if they revealed what was happening. According to the testimony, Kelly gave several accusations of herpes without revealing that she had STDs, forced a teenage boy to have sex with a naked girl who came out from under a boxing ring in his garage and shot a shameful video of a victim who he was showing her. smearing feces on her face as punishment for violating his rules.
Kelly planned to fraudulently marry Aaliyah, witnesses testified
There was also evidence of a fraudulent marriage plan designed to protect Kelly after she feared he had infiltrated R&B singer Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15 years old. Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license that falsely states her age was 18. She was 27 at the time. Aaliyah collaborated with Kelly, who wrote and produced her debut album in 1994, Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number. He died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22. An earlier defense note suggested prosecutors argue for a higher sentence that was overturned by falsely claiming that Kelly was involved in paying a bribe to a government official to facilitate an illegal marriage. Kelly’s lawyers also said it was wrong to claim she should have more time because she sexually abused one of her victims – referred to in court as “Jane” – after her parents instructed her to help her with her music career. . “The record shows that Jane’s parents asked Jane to lie to the accused about her age and then encouraged her to seduce him,” the newspapers reported. The Associated Press does not name individuals who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless they appear in public. Kelly has been jailed without bail since 2019. He continues to face child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in Chicago, where the trial is scheduled to begin on August 15.
