R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison in federal court in New York after judge says he left ‘a trail of broken lives’
NEW YORK — Chicago-born R&B superstar R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, punctuating a remarkable fall from grace after decades of sexual misconduct allegations.
The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly means Kelly will be in custody for more than another two decades, depending on how his time served is calculated.
Kelly declined to address the court before he was sentenced and his defense called no witnesses on his behalf. He showed no emotion as Donnelly handed the sentence down.
“These victims were disposable to you,” the judge told him. “You left in your wake a trail of broken lives. ... You taught them that love is enslavement and violence and humiliation.”
The judge spoke in soft tones that belied her excoriation of Kelly while giving him his punishment for what she called Kelly’s systematic and premeditated pattern of brutality.
“Although sex is certainly a weapon you used, this crime is not about sex, it’s about violence and cruelty and control,” she said. “ … You had a system in place that lured young people in your orbit and took over their lives.”
While Kelly’s attorneys are likely to argue on appeal that the government overreached when it charged Kelly under the RICO act, which traditionally has been used for gangs and organized crime, Donnelly said she had no doubt Kelly was the head of an enterprise full of enablers.
