AP EXPLAIN: What would R. Kelly’s sentence look like?

Convicted superstar R. Kelly will not be allowed to be released until 2066, when he would be on the verge of turning 100, if a federal judge accepts prosecutors’ recommendations Thursday in his next hearing of sentencing in his native Chicago.

Kelly, 56, will be sentenced after being convicted last year in Chicago of child pornography and enticement of minors to commit sexual acts. He is already serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted in New York in 2021 of criminal association and sex trafficking.

The main question is whether Judge Harry Leinenweber will order Kelly to serve his sentence in Chicago at the same time as his sentence in New York or only begin serving his sentence in Chicago until he has served his sentence. trouble in Chicago.

If the singer is sentenced to serve one sentence after another, it would virtually wipe out any chance of Kelly getting out of prison alive.

Here is an overview of the possible sentences:

WHAT ARE PROSECUTORS DEMANDING?

In a sentencing memorandum last week, they recommended Kelly serve an additional 25 years, consecutive to the New York sentence.

Prosecutors described Kelly as a “serial sexual predator” who used his fame and wealth to lure female fans impressed by his stardom into sexually abusing and then dumping them. They claim he showed no repentance.

The Chicago jury convicted Kelly on three counts of producing child pornography and inciting minors to perform sexual acts. Kelly was acquitted of the most high-profile charge of rigging his 2008 state trial for child pornography.

Prosecutors have acknowledged that a 25-year sentence would be longer than sentencing guidelines suggest and that a consecutive sentence could be the equivalent of a life sentence.

But they say that in Kelly’s case, his “desire to abuse minors is insatiable” and that such punishment is necessary to “protect the community” from him.

WHAT PUNISHMENT IS THE DEFENSE REQUESTING?

Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, has asked for a 10-year sentence, the shortest given by the guidelines.

He also requested, in a series of pre-sentencing filings, that whatever sentence Leinenweber imposed, he allow Kelly to serve it alongside the New York sentence.

Bonjean noted that Kelly’s current sentence means he cannot be free until he turns 80 and that a new consecutive sentence would be a sentence that requires “a second life”.

She noted that an extended sentence for Kelly, who is black, would also be disproportionate because, according to the attorney, there are white rock stars who have gone unpunished for the behavior for which Kelly was convicted.

WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR A CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE?

By law, judges generally allow defendants to serve their sentences concurrently, meaning they are effectively serving only the longest sentence imposed.

But if they conclude that a defendant’s crimes are particularly serious, they may decide that the only way to deter such crimes is to order that sentences be served one after another.

Judges often order a sentence concurrent with a sentence handed down in a previous case if the crimes in the two cases are related. Although prosecutors say Kelly’s victims in the Chicago case are different, the defense argues the allegations were essentially the same.

WHAT ARE THE PROSECUTORS ARGUING?

Prosecutors say Kelly’s crimes were particularly serious because they involve minors he enticed to perform sexual acts when they were 14 and 15 years old.

What makes these crimes worse, they say, is that “Kelly sought to record her sexual exploitation” by filming them. Some videos have made their way online, compounding the damage done to society, prosecutors said.

“Because Kelly is Kelly, more people have seen child pornography,” her document says. “The effects of Kelly’s conduct are vast, incalculable and irreversible.”

WHAT IS THE DEFENSE ARGUMENT?

Bonjean accused prosecutors of offering an “embellished narrative” in his sentencing memorandum “to inflame the passions of the public and the court” against Kelly.

She also said they asked the judge to join what she called “the government’s bloody campaign to make Kelly a symbol of the #MeToo movement.”

“The government insists on exaggerating Kelly’s flaws, making him look more like a preview of the next episode of ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ rather than lawyers,” he said, referring to the 2019 documentary series Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly,” which included testimony from the accusers, some of whom testified at the 2022 Chicago trial.

Bonjean also called prosecutors for arguing that his client never expressed regret. He said Kelly had the right to remain silent while he appealed and that prosecutors should not use the attorney’s advice to Kelly not to speak as evidence that he is unrepentant.

He argued that Kelly’s own abuse as a minor and illiteracy as an adult also vindicated his calls for leniency in the case. The fact that the conduct that led to the charges occurred decades ago must also be considered, he said.

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, grew up poor in Chicago and became an international star with hits like “I Believe I Can Fly” and the sexually-tinged song “Bump n’ Grind.”

Bonjean noted that Kelly has already suffered a lot from her legal troubles, including financial damages. He noted that his fortune was once estimated at $1 billion, but he is now “evicted”.

WILL KELLY TALK TO COURT ABOUT HER SORROW?

It is unclear whether he will speak, as he risks being used against him by Judge Leinenweber. Judges often like to hear expressions of regret when sentencing. Most defendants talk.

But defendants who appeal sentences, like Kelly, sometimes choose not to. Kelly did not speak during his sentencing in New York in 2022.