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R. Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in jail, following the multiplatinum R&B singer’s conviction final yr for exploiting his movie star standing and wealth over many years to draw ladies and underage ladies for intercourse.
The sentence was handed down by US District Choose Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn federal court docket.
Kelly, 55, was convicted final September following an almost six-week trial. He’s among the many most outstanding folks convicted of sexual misbehavior in the course of the #MeToo motion in opposition to such conduct by outstanding males.
“Though intercourse was actually a weapon that you just used, this isn’t a case about intercourse. It is a case about violence, cruelty and management,” Donnelly advised him.
Kelly didn’t converse on the sentencing listening to, however his victims spoke at size about his abuse in the course of the trial.
“You made me do issues that broke my spirit. I actually wished I might die due to how low you made me really feel,” mentioned one unnamed survivor, immediately addressing a Kelly who stored his arms folded and his eyes downcast.
Prosecutors have mentioned Kelly additionally used his entourage to acquire victims and defend himself from investigations.
Lengthy-standing allegations
The sentence is the top of a sluggish fall for Kelly, who maintained a loyal following of followers and offered tens of millions of albums regardless of rumors about his misconduct being extensively identified for the reason that Nineties.
His lawyer had argued that he ought to solely be sentenced to 10 years as a result of he had a traumatic childhood “involving extreme, extended childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence.”
The sentence comes simply over a month earlier than jury choice is because of begin in Kelly’s separate, long-delayed federal trial in Chicago on August 15.
In that case, Kelly and two of his former associates are alleged to have engineered the singer’s 2008 acquittal in a toddler pornography trial and hid years of sexual abuse of minors.
The musician who as soon as dominated R&B additionally faces prosecution in two different state jurisdictions.
es/sms (AP, AFP)
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