R. Kelly’s 30-year sentence stands as federal appeals court rejects challenge

R. Kelly's 30-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and racketeering has been upheld by a federal appeals court in New York. On Wednesday, the court ruled that the arguments in Kelly's appeal "are without merit."

The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Grammy-winning R&B artist's conviction and sentence from his 2021 trial, where he was found guilty of multiple charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering, The Associated Press reported.

In the 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, launched an appeal, arguing that prosecutors improperly used the racketeering statute to convict him.

However, the appeals court ruled 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. Evidence at trial showed 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 expressed disappointment with the ruling, they said in a statement, "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 conduct. This decision paves the way for prosecutorial abuse of the RICO statute," Bonjean added.

In 2023, the Supreme Court also declined to hear another appeal related to Kelly's 20-year sentence for the 2022 trial, where he was found guilty of child sex abuse charges in Chicago.