R. Kelly gets another 20 years in prison

A judge in New York gave disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison sentence on Thursday for child pornography and other crimes, but he will serve most of it at the same time as a sentence he already has.

Kelly, who is 56 years old, is already serving a 30-year sentence. In a separate federal trial in Brooklyn, a jury found him guilty of racketeering and drug trafficking.

The judge in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago, where he was once a source of pride, said that most of the new sentence would be served at the same time as the old one. All but one year of the new sentence will be served at the same time.

Kelly will spend up to 31 years in prison, which is a win for the defence. In its sentencing memorandum, the defence argued that “fairness requires a concurrent sentence” and accused the prosecution of being “on a quest to make sure Kelly never sees the light of day.”

Both of Kelly’s federal convictions are being challenged by his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean.

In September 2022, the Chicago trial found the artist born Robert Sylvester Kelly guilty on six of the 13 charges against him. Three of the charges were for making child pornography, and the other three were for trying to get a minor to do something wrong.