Written by: Khalif Thompson
Today in Hip Hop News, we deliver you news just breaking a few minutes ago!
R. Kelly was sentenced today in his New York trial (June 29th). After being convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering, the 55-year-old was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The sentence stems from his 2021 conviction, in which the "I Believe I Can Fly" singer was found guilty of nine charges, including racketeering, which included 14 individual acts such as bribery, kidnapping, and forced labor.
During a victim impact statement, a woman named Angela told Kelly, “You used your fame and power to groom and coach underage boys and girls for your own sexual gratification. Today we reclaim our name. We are no longer the preyed-upon individuals we once were. I pray that God reaches your soul”.
Because of his "long and pervasive history of enticing children to engage in sexual activity," the state requested more than 25 years in prison, and their request was granted.
CREDIT: Matt Marton / AP File
The singer's defense team, led by Jennifer Bonjean, had asked the judge to be lenient and only sentence Kelly to the mandatory minimum of ten years in prison.
This case involves eleven alleged victims. In his case, nine women and two men testified, with six claiming to be minors at the time of the alleged abuse.
Five of the women named in the criminal charges were able to testify. The sixth woman, on the other hand, was not.
That would be the late Aaliyah Houghton, his singer protegee whom he married when she was 15 and he was 27.
Years after her divorce from the convicted predator and cultural Pied Piper, the Forever Princess of R&B died in 2001.
During this trial, R. Kelly did not testify. In August, the disgraced singer will face new charges in a federal court in Chicago for alleged child pornography and obstruction of justice.
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