The federal appeals court in Chicago affirmed the 2022 conviction of onetime R&B star R. Kelly on Friday, noting that an “even-handed” jury handed down a mixed verdict “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes.”
The decision follows arguments in February that mostly revolved around the length of Kelly’s prison sentence — and whether U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber went too far by handing Kelly 20 years.
Leinenweber also ruled that Kelly may serve 19 of those years while serving a 30-year prison sentence for his racketeering conviction in New York. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled Friday that Kelly’s Chicago sentence “cannot be fairly assessed without reference” to that sentence in New York, which Kelly is appealing separately.
“What looks like 240 months for this Illinois conduct is, with that context, more like twelve,” Judge Amy St. Eve wrote in Friday’s 14-page opinion.
She concluded that Leinenweber did not overreach.
A federal jury in Chicago convicted Kelly in 2022 of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing minors into criminal sexual activity. Leinenweber then handed Kelly that 20-year prison sentence in February 2023.
Kelly, 57, is being held in a medium-security prison in North Carolina, records show. He is not due to be released until December 2045.
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