R. Kelly’s 30-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and racketeering was upheld by a federal appeals court in New York. The court ruled on Wednesday that the arguments in Kelly’s appeal “are without merit.”
According to The Associated Press, the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Grammy-winning R&B artist’s conviction and sentence from his 2021 trial, in which he was found guilty of multiple charges including sex trafficking and racketeering.
In his decision, Judge Denny Chin stated that prosecutors presented “extensive evidence showing how Kelly ensnared young girls and women into his orbit, endeavored to control their lives, and secured their compliance with his personal and sexual demands through verbal and physical abuse, threats of blackmail, and humiliation.”
Last year, Kelly’s legal team, led by attorney Jennifer Bonjean, filed an appeal, claiming that prosecutors used the racketeering statute incorrectly to convict him.
However, the appeals court determined that there was “sufficient evidence to support each of Kelly’s convictions, including for the state and federal violations underlying his Mann Act convictions.”
The decision stated, “Enabled by a constellation of managers, assistants, and other staff for over 25 years, Kelly exploited his fame to lure girls and young women into his grasp.” At trial, evidence revealed that he would isolate them from friends and family, control nearly every aspect of their lives, and abuse them verbally, physically, and sexually.”
While Kelly’s legal team was disappointed with the decision, they stated, “We believe the United States Supreme Court will be interested in reviewing this unprecedented opinion, which grants the government limitless discretion to apply the RICO statute to situations absurdly remote from the statute’s intent.”
“The statute was intended to punish organized crime, not individual behavior. “This decision opens the door for prosecutorial abuse of the RICO statute,” Bonjean added.
In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear another appeal regarding Kelly’s 20-year sentence for the 2022 trial, in which he was found guilty of child sex abuse charges in Chicago.
