Federal prosecutors want R&B singer and convicted sex offender R. Kelly to sit in prison for more than 25 years, according to a Thursday legal filing.
Kelly, who is scheduled to be sentenced June 29, was found guilty last September of sexually abusing women, boys and girls for decades. He was convicted of all nine counts against him in the sex trafficking trial.
“In light of the seriousness of the offenses, the need for specific deterrence and the need to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant … the government respectfully submits that a sentence in excess of 25 years is warranted,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York wrote to the judge on the case.
The US Attorney’s Office blasted the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer for “relying on his fame, money and popularity as an R&B recording star… to both carry and conceal his crimes” as he got immense help from his large network of associates.
“He continued his crimes and avoided punishment for them for almost 30 years and must now be held to account.”
The 31-page filing delves into the “callous disregard” he showed his victims during his decades of abuse and sexual exploitation, warning that Kelly “is unlikely to be deterred from further sexually abusing and exploiting children and others.”
The feds noted if they get their wish, Kelly would be in his 70s when released from prison.
During the trial, the government called 45 witnesses to detail the horrors Kelly, whose full name is Robert Kelly, subjected his victims to.
The feds also said the artist behind the hit song “Ignition” has shown “no remorse for any of his conduct.
“Indeed, the defendant’s decades of crime appear to have been fueled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct, no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abuse to other, to the strictures of the law,” the US Attorney’s office stated.
Kelly faces more criminal charges outside of New York.
Minnesota state prosecutors charged him with engaging in prostitution with a minor and federal prosecutors in Illinois charged him for child pornography and obstruction.
Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Kelly, has argued he should be sentenced to fewer than 14 years in prison. She plans to explain why his “history and characteristics” justify the shorter sentence in a filing next Monday.
Bonjean, in April, attempted to delay the sentencing until he is tried in Illinois, which is set for August.
