R&B singer R. Kelly gets new 20-year jail term

New York: A US judge on Thursday handed disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison term for child pornography and other charges — but he will serve most of it simultaneously with a previous sentence.

Kelly, 56, is already serving a 30-year sentence he received after a Brooklyn jury in a separate federal trial convicted him on racketeering and trafficking charges.

The judge in Chicago — Kelly´s hometown, where he was once seen as a source of pride — ruled that most of the new sentence would be served concurrently with the previous one, with all but one year taken at the same time.

That Kelly will spend a maximum of 31 years in prison is a win for the defense, which urged in its sentencing memorandum that “a concurrent sentence is what fairness demands,” accusing the prosecution of engaging in a “quest to ensure that Kelly never sees the light of day.”

His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, is appealing both of Kelly´s federal convictions.

The artist born Robert Sylvester Kelly was convicted in September 2022 on six of 13 counts alleged in the Chicago trial: three counts of producing child pornography and three of enticement of a minor.