R&B artist R. Kelly was given a 20-year jail sentence for child sex offences by a federal judge in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday.
His most recent sentence was given to him after a jury determined that he had produced three recordings showing himself sexually abusing his goddaughter, who is 14 years old.
The judge decided that all but one year of the prison term will be served concurrently with a 30-year sentence that R. Kelly previously received after a Brooklyn jury found him guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking, according to the New York Times.
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The jury in Chicago convicted him of six of the 13 charges brought against him in line with sexual exploitation during the 1990s, including counts of forcing three minors into sexual activity and three of producing sex tapes involving a minor.
R. Kelly was acquitted of a charge that he had attempted to impede an earlier investigation into his abuse of the goddaughter, and two other counts of enticing minors to have sex.
Federal prosecutors had argued that the 56-year-old deserved 25 years imprisonment in addition to his earlier sentence, citing the singer’s “lack of remorse” as a reason he would pose a danger to society if released.
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“The only way to ensure he will not re-offend is to impose a sentence that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life,” Jeannice Williams Appenteng, one of the prosecutors, said in court on Thursday.
One of R. Kelly’s lawyers, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that her client was “likely to die in prison either way,” but that if he did not, he would not pose a threat in old age.
Judge Harry D. Leinenweber agreed, saying in court that he did not think the singer would be likely to commit the same kind of crimes in his 80s. The judge acknowledged that he would have dealt a heavier sentence if the Chicago trial had come first.
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