R Kelly LOSES bid to quash 20-year jail sentence for child sex attacks in Chicago but vows ‘our fight is not over’ – one day after bombshell overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction
Disgraced singer R. Kelly has had his efforts to appeal his 20-year prison sentence quashed by an appeals court.
Jurors convicted the R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, in 2022 on three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing minors to have sex.
In his appeal, Kelly argued that Illinois’ earlier and shorter statute of limitations on child sex charges should have applied to his Chicago case, rather than current law allowing charges while an accuser is still alive.
The 57-year-old also argued that the charge involving one accuser should have been tried separately, alongside the charge against three other accusers, because of video evidence that became a central point in the Chicago trial.
In their ruling Friday, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals rejected Kelly’s argument that he should not have been prosecuted because the allegations occurred while Illinois law required prosecution of child sex crimes within 10 years.
R. Kelly wants to leave after appearing at a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago, Illinois on September 17, 2019
In this file photo taken on February 24, 1998, R. Kelly holds his three Grammy Awards in New York during the 40th Annual Grammy Awards
The panel characterized it as an attempt by Kelly to avoid charges entirely after employing “a complex scheme to keep the victims quiet.”
Video evidence shown at trial showed Kelly molesting a girl, identified only as Jane, who testified she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel noted that jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 charges against him “even after viewing those disgusting tapes.”
Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said TMZ: ‘Our battle is not over yet. At the very least, we will see a review from the USSC (SCOTUS) on statute of limitations questions.
“And he has habeas remedies available to him. And if we win in New York. He will be entitled to re-offense in Illinois. So this story is far from over.’
Prosecutors in his home state had sought an even harsher sentence, 25 years.
They also wanted a judge to keep that sentence from starting until he completes a 30-year prison sentence imposed in New York in 2022 for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Judge Harry Leinenweber denied that request and ordered that Kelly serve the 20 years from the Chicago case concurrently with the New York sentence.
Kelly and his lawyers separately appealed the sentence in New York, in which he faced nine charges.
Kelly pictured here in his mugshot in Chicago after his arrest on February 22, 2019
Last month, Bonjean told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in court that federal prosecutors had failed to prove the singer directed a racketeering scheme in which he recruited underage girls for sex and then abused several victims.
Questions from the three-judge panel in Manhattan suggested an argument would be a hard sell.
“Hasn’t the government proven that one of the purposes of this enterprise was to recruit girls so that Kelly could engage in illegal sexual activity?” Circuit Judge Denny Chin asked.
Bonjean said this wasn’t done by relying on evidence, such as Kelly’s associates handing out the phone number backstage for the singer, perhaps best known for the 1996 Grammy-winning hit “I Believe I Can Fly.”
“There was no evidence of anyone going out and saying, ‘May I know your age, are you underage, come back, we want to serve you up to Mr. Kelly.’
Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan suggested that the ages of some plaintiffs could have been obvious.
“Surely the looks of these girls would be proof enough, right?” he asked Bonjean.
“Looking young doesn’t mean you know someone is underage,” Bonjean replied.
Kelly was behind bars in July 2019, now at Butner, North Carolina, prison, which housed the late Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. He will be 78 when he is eligible for release in 2045.
His conviction made him among 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 came forward claiming he sexually assaulted them.
On Thursday, Weinstein cried “tears of joy” in prison after hearing on the news that his rape and sexual assault convictions had been overturned.
The 72-year-old is delighted that “someone finally listened to him,” spokesman Juda Engelmayer told DailyMail.com.