US appeals court quashes R Kelly’s appeal to overturn 20-year sentence for child sex abuse

A Chicago court on Friday, April 26, 2024, ruled against an appeal by disgraced R&B singer Robert Kelly, popularly known as R Kelly, to overturn a 20-year sentence for child sex conviction.

R Kelly, who was found guilty on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex, argued that Illinois’ old statute of limitations should have been applied rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.

The Illinois’ old statute of limitations requires prosecution of child sex crime charges within ten years,

The appeals court however rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.

He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.

Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.

The three-judge panel from the US appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.

EAN/MA