R. Kelly to learn if he effectively gets ‘life’ sentence

CHICAGO (AP) — R. Kelly is set to learn whether he will spend the rest of his life in prison when a federal judge sentences him Thursday on convictions of child pornography and enticement of minors for sex.

Prosecutors have asked the judge overseeing the sentencing hearing in Kelly's hometown of Chicago to order him to serve a 25-year sentence only after he completes a 30-year term imposed last year in New York for racketeering and sex trafficking.

That would make the 56-year-old Grammy Award winner eligible for release in 2066, a year shy of his 100th birthday. The defense wants a sentence of around 10 years, served concurrently.

If Judge Harry Leinenweber does let Kelly serve his new sentence simultaneously with the New York sentence, he should be eligible for release when he is about 80 — providing him some hope of one day resuming life outside prison.

Leinenweber said at the outset of the hearing that he did not accept the government’s contention that Kelly used fear to woo underage girls for sex.

“The (government’s) whole theory of grooming, was sort of the opposite of fear of bodily harm,” the judge told the court. “It was the fear of lost love, lost affections (from Kelly)'. … It just doesn’t seem to me that it rises to the fear of bodily harm.”

Prosecutors say Kelly's crimes against children and his lack of remorse justify the stiffer sentence.

A calm Kelly spoke briefly at the start of the hearing, when the judge asked him if he had reviewed key presentencing documents for any inaccuracies.

“Your honor, I have gone over it with my attorney,” Kelly said. "I’m just relying on my attorney for that.”

Two of Kelly's accusers asked the judge to punish him harshly.

In a statement read aloud in court, a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” said she had lost her early aspirations to become a singer herself and her hopes for fulfilling relationships.

“I have lost my dreams to Robert Kelly,” the statement said. “I will never get back what I lost to Robert Kelly. … “I have been permanently scarred by Robert.”

The woman was a key witness for prosecutors during Kelly's trial; four of his convictions are tied to her.

“When your virginity is taken by a pedophile at 14 … your life is never your own," Jane's statement read.

Another accuser, who used the pseudonym “Nia,” attended the hearing and addressed Kelly directly in court. Speaking forcefully as her voice quivered, Nia said Kelly would repeatedly pick at her supposed faults while he abused her.

“Now you are here … because there is something wrong with you,” she said. “No longer will you be able to harm children.”

Jurors in Chicago convicted Kelly last year on six of 13 counts: three counts of producing child porn and three of enticement of minors for sex.

Kelly rose from poverty in Chicago to become one of the world’s biggest R&B stars. Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind,” he sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s.

In presentencing filings, prosecutors described Kelly as “a serial sexual predator” who used his fame and wealth to reel in, sexually abuse and then discard star-struck fans.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Jeannice Appenteng on Thursday urged the judge to set a longer sentence and keep Kelly in prison “for the rest of his life.”

Kelly’s abuse of children was all the worse, she said, because he “memorialized” his abuse by filming victims, including Jane. She told the court Kelly “used Jane as a sex prop, a thing” for producing pornographic videos.

In prehearing filings, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of offering an “embellished narrative” in an attempt to get the judge to join what she called the government’s “bloodthirsty campaign to make Kelly a symbol of the #MeToo movement.”

Bonjean said Kelly has suffered enough, including financially. She said his worth once approached $1 billion, but that he “is now destitute.”

In court Thursday, Bonjean said Kelly will be lucky to survive his 30-year New York sentence alone. To give him a consecutive 25-year sentence on top of that “is overkill, it is symbolic,” she said. “Why? Because it is R. Kelly.”

She also argued that Kelly’s silence should not be viewed as a lack of remorse.

She said that while she advised Kelly not to speak because he continues to appeal his convictions and could face other legal action, “He would like to, he would like to very much.”