R. Kelly’s summer of reckoning: Convicted singer faces potentially decades in prison in New York, jury trial in Chicago

CHICAGO — It’s been nine months since Chicago-born R&B singer R. Kelly was last in a New York courtroom, where he was convicted by a jury after decades of allegations of sexual misdeeds.

On that day in late September, Kelly, dressed in a gray suit, remained stoic as the verdict came in: guilty of racketeering conspiracy and eight other counts alleging he used his organization to lure and trap girls, boys and young women to satisfy his predatory desires.

Now, as his time behind bars nears the three-year mark, Kelly is in store for another day of reckoning, one that could determine whether he will ever walk free again.

After several delays, Kelly is set to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday in a hearing that is expected to include emotional testimony from some of his victims and reveal disturbing new details about Kelly’s own troubled upbringing in Chicago, where he rose from busking at “L” stations to international superstar.

Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly to sentence Kelly to more than 25 years in prison, saying his racketeering conviction was part of a “long and pervasive history of enticing children to engage in sexual activity.”

“He lured young girls and boys into his orbit, often through