CHICAGO, IL – SEPTEMBER 17: Singer R. Kelly appears during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on September 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Kelly is facing multiple sexual assault charges and is being held without bail. (Photo by Antonio Perez – Pool via Getty Images)
OAN’s Abril Elfi
2:47 PM – Monday, March 18, 2024
Singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, most commonly known as R. Kelly, has appealed to overturn a 30-year sentence that he is currently serving for sexual abuse.
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On Monday, Kelly’s attorney attempted to persuade a U.S. appeals court to reverse the former R&B singer’s 30-year prison term and sex trafficking conviction.
Kelly, 57, is contesting the Brooklyn, New York, jury’s September 2021 conviction on all nine counts, which included racketeering and eight counts of breaking the Mann Act, which prohibits moving people across state lines for prostitution.
The singer led a racketeering scheme in which he recruited underage girls for sex and then violated multiple victims, according to federal prosecutors’ failure to provide sufficient evidence, as his attorney Jennifer Bonjean told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Manhattan panel of three judges’ questions hinted that the argument might not be very persuasive.
“Didn’t the government prove that one of the purposes of this enterprise was to recruit girls so that Kelly could have illegal sexual activity?” Circuit Judge Denny Chin asked.
According to Bonjean, it did not do so by depending on concrete evidence, like for example, Kelly’s staff giving out the singer’s phone number backstage to minors.
“There was no evidence that anyone went out there saying, ‘May I find out what your age is? Are you underage? Come back; we want to serve you up to Mr. Kelly.”
Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan speculated that it may not have been clear how old some of the accusers were.
“The appearance of these girls would be evidence enough, wouldn’t it?” he asked Bonjean.
“Looking young does not mean you know someone is a minor,” Bonjean responded.
Federal prosecutor Kayla Bensing was questioned by the panel less abrasively, spending three uninterrupted minutes retelling testimonies from some of his accusers.
45 witnesses also testified that Kelly and his allies imposed oppressive rules, like calling Kelly “Daddy” and requiring victims to ask permission before eating or using the restroom.
“The jury was entitled to infer that Kelly and his inner circle knew what was going on,” Bensing said. “He used the enterprise to make them feel like they were confined and that they had no way out.”
After two decades of allegations of misconduct, which he has consistently denied, he was found guilty and sentenced.
Additional defenses in Kelly’s appeal included claims that the jury was unfairly “swamped” with evidence of other alleged wrongdoings, that the jurors assumed he was guilty, and that his attorney was incompetent.
In September 2022, a Chicago jury found Kelly guilty of child sex offenses, and he was given a 20-year prison sentence.
However, the judge only gave Kelly an extra year in prison. The remaining 19 years were served concurrently with Kelly’s original 30-year sentence.
Since July 2019, Kelly has been incarcerated at a prison in Butner, North Carolina, which previously held Bernard Madoff, the late Ponzi schemer. In 2045, he will be 78-years-old and eligible for release.
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