Prosecutors want R. Kelly to serve 25 years in prison in connection for a child pornography conviction. File Photo by Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE
Feb. 17 (UPI) — Prosecutors said this week that they want R&B singer Robert Kelly, best known by his stage name R. Kelly, to serve 25 years in prison for child pornography and other convictions, essentially turning the penalty into a life sentence.
This past summer, a federal jury in Chicago found Kelly, 56, guilty of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor into criminal sexual activity.
In a 37-page memo filed a week before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber is expected to sentence the one-time entertainment star, prosecutors argued that Kelly should not start serving that sentence until his 30-year racketeering conviction in New York is completed, amounting to 55 years in federal prison.
“Robert Kelly is a serial sexual predator who, over the course of many years, specifically targeted young girls and went to great lengths to conceal his abuse,” prosecutors wrote, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Kelly’s defense has asked for an 11-year sentence, to run at the same time as his New York conviction. His defense said that Kelly is being singled out for behavior that “White rock stars have gotten away with for decades.”
In his Chicago trial, Kelly was acquitted of obstruction of justice related to an alleged conspiracy, with two associates, to hide video evidence during a trial in 2008. Both co-defendants, Milton Brown and Derrel McDavid, were acquitted on all charges against them.
The Chicago-based singer was found not guilty in 2008 on 14 counts of producing child pornography.