'Serial Predator' R. Kelly Gets 20 Years In Chicago Child Porn, Enticement Case

CHICAGO — Convicted R&B artist R. Kelly was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for child pornography and enticement of a minor in a Chicago courtroom on Thursday. He was previously sentenced to a 30-year prison term for sex trafficking and racketeering charges in New York.

Kelly, who was convicted of child pornography and charges involving a minor last fall, will serve 19 of the 20 years of the new sentence concurrently with his previous sentence, U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber ruled in Thursday’s hearing.

The remaining year of the 20-year sentence will be served after the 30-year sentence is complete, the judge ruled.

Kelly’s attorneys had petitioned for a new trial, but that motion was denied last week ahead of Thursday’s sentencing.

The 56-year-old Kelly was convicted of three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity last September. Earlier this year, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx dropped additional sex charges against Kelly after the singer's two federal convictions ensured he would spend the next three decades in prison.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, an attorney representing one of Kelly’s victims read a statement written by a woman identified only as “Jane.”

“I have lost my dignity due to Robert Kelly. I have lost my dreams due to Robert Kelly. I have lost my teenage years to Robert Kelly,” the attorney read at the hearing. The statement continued: “I will forever be the girl that R Kelly peed on.”

Prosecutors sought a 25-year sentence, asking that it be served after the 30-year sentence.

In court documents filed with the case, prosecutors called the disgraced singer a “serial sexual predator” who targeted young women and who went to great lengths to conceal his sexual activity with underage girls. They also pointed to Kelly’s lack of remorse or accepting responsibility for his crimes.

Kelly’s attorneys said that the former musician is serving “a de facto life sentence” and asked for the sentences to be served together. His lawyers said there is no reason to believe that Kelly would repeat any criminal behavior in his mid-80s when he would be released from prison.

“The overwhelming majority of Kelly’s criminal conduct was committed a quarter-century ago,” his attorneys wrote in court filings.