An appeals court has overturned disgraced singer R. Kelly’s attempts to appeal his 20-year prison sentence.
In 2022, the jury convicted the R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of sexual enticement of minors.
In his appeal, Kelly argued that the older, shorter statute of limitations for child sex prosecutions in Illinois should have applied to his Chicago case rather than the current law that allows charges to be filed while the accuser is still alive.
The 57-year-old also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from charges involving three other accusers because of the video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
In its ruling Friday, the Chicago-based Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Kelly’s argument that he should not have been prosecuted since the allegations occurred, while Illinois law required prosecution of the crimes. sexual acts against children within a period of ten years.
R. Kelly turns to leave after appearing at a hearing at Leighton Criminal Court on September 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.
In this file photo taken on February 24, 1998, R. Kelly holds up his three Grammy Awards in New York at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.
The panel called it an attempt by Kelly to avoid charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet.”
Video evidence shown during the trial showed Kelly abusing a girl, identified only as Jane, who testified that she was 14 years old when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel noted that jurors acquitted Kelly of seven of the 13 charges against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes.”
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said TMZ: ‘Our fight is not over. We will see a review from the USSC (SCOTUS) on the statute of limitations issues at a minimum.
And he has habeas remedies at his disposal. And if we win in NY. He will be entitled to a new sentence in Illinois. So this story is far from over.”
Prosecutors in his home state had asked for an even harsher sentence, asking for 25 years.
They also wanted a judge not to let that sentence begin until he served a 30-year sentence imposed in 2022 in New York for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Judge Harry Leinenweber denied that request and ordered Kelly to serve 20 years in the Chicago case concurrently with the New York sentence.
Kelly and his lawyers separately appealed the New York sentence in which he faced nine charges.
Kelly pictured here in his mugshot in Chicago after his arrest on February 22, 2019.
In court last month, Bonjean told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that federal prosecutors failed to prove that the singer led an extortion scheme in which he recruited underage girls for sex and then raped them. several victims.
Questions from the three-judge panel in Manhattan suggested that argument might be a tough sell.
‘Didn’t the government demonstrate that one of the purposes of this company was to recruit girls so that Kelly could engage in illegal sexual activity?’ Circuit Judge Denny Chin asked.
Bonjean said he didn’t do so based on evidence such as Kelly’s employees passing the backstage phone number to the singer, perhaps best known for the 1996 Grammy-winning hit “I Believe I Can Fly.”
“There was no evidence that anyone came out and said, ‘May I ask what your age is? Are you a minor? Come back; we want to introduce you to Mr. Kelly.'”
Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan suggested that the ages of some accusers may have been obvious.
‘The appearance of these girls would be proof enough, right?’ -He asked Bonjean.
“Looking young doesn’t mean you know someone is underage,” Bonjean responded.
Kelly arrives at the 2013 American Music Awards at the Nokia Theater LA Live in Los Angeles
Kelly poses for a mugshot after being arrested for $161,663 in unpaid child support on March 6, 2019
Kelly has been behind bars since July 2019, now at the Butner, North Carolina, prison that housed the late Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. He will be 78 years old when he is eligible for release in 2045.
His conviction made him one of the most prominent people convicted of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement.
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and his trial in New York were pivotal to the movement, the anti-sexual abuse campaign that went viral online after several women alleged he had sexually abused them.
On Thursday, Weinstein cried “tears of joy” in prison after learning on the news that his rape and sexual assault convictions had been overturned.
The 72-year-old is delighted that “finally someone has listened to him,” spokesman Juda Engelmayer told DailyMail.com.
‘I just spoke to him two minutes ago. Harvey was crying. He was excited,” Engelmayer said of his client, who has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 80 women.
‘He was happy that finally someone was listening to him. He’s waiting to hear from lawyers and waiting to hear from the prison system what the next steps are. He is hopeful and keeps his spirits high.”