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R. Kelly gets new 20-year jail term for child porn crimes

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Agence France Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="R&amp;B singer R. Kelly (center) arrives for a child support hearing at the Cook County Circuit Court at the Daley Center in Chicago, on March 6, 2019. Tannen Maury, EPA-EFE." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/entertainment/06/29/20220629-rkelly.jpg"/><figcaption>R&amp;B singer R. Kelly (center) arrives for a child support hearing at the Cook County Circuit Court at the Daley Center in Chicago, on March 6, 2019. Tannen Maury, EPA-EFE.</figcaption></figure></div>NEW YORK, United States - A US judge on Thursday handed disgraced R&amp;B singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison term for child pornography and other charges -- but he will serve most of it simultaneously with a previous sentence.Kelly, 56, is already serving a 30-year sentence he received after a Brooklyn jury in a separate federal trial convicted him on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/06/30/22/r-kelly-gets-30-years-in-jail-over-sex-crimes">R. Kelly gets 30 years in jail over sex crimes</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/09/02/21/r-kelly-accuser-says-she-was-forced-to-have-oral-sex">R. Kelly accuser says she saw a gun while forced to have oral sex</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/08/25/21/woman-says-r-kelly-prostituted-her">Woman says R. Kelly prostituted her, told her to ignore &#x27;Lifetime&#x27; accusations</a></li></ul>The judge in Chicago -- Kelly&#x27;s hometown, where he was once seen as a source of pride -- ruled that most of the new sentence would be served concurrently with the previous one, with all but one year taken at the same time.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/08/19/21/r-kelly-groomed-girls-for-decades-trial-hears">R. Kelly groomed girls for decades, trial hears</a></li></ul>That Kelly will spend a maximum of 31 years in prison is a win for the defense, which urged in its sentencing memorandum that &quot;a concurrent sentence is what fairness demands,&quot; accusing the prosecution of engaging in a &quot;quest to ensure that Kelly never sees the light of day.&quot;His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, is appealing both of Kelly&#x27;s federal convictions.The artist born Robert Sylvester Kelly was convicted in September 2022 on six of 13 counts alleged in the Chicago trial: three counts of producing child pornography and three of enticement of a minor.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/09/15/22/r-kelly-convicted-of-child-pornography-charges">R. Kelly convicted of child pornography charges</a></li></ul>The singer known for hits including &quot;I Believe I Can Fly&quot; was acquitted by a federal jury of the seven other counts, including charges that he obstructed justice in a previous trial.Kelly and two ex-associates had been accused of rigging the singer&#x27;s 2008 child pornography proceedings in which a jury delivered a verdict of not guilty.The federal conviction in Chicago came one year after Kelly was convicted in New York of systematically recruiting teenagers and women for sex.That verdict was widely seen as a milestone for the #MeToo movement: it was the first major sex abuse trial where the majority of the accusers were Black women.It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal consequences for the abuse he was rumored for decades to have inflicted on women and children.mdo/sst© Agence France-Presse

A US judge on Thursday handed disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison term for child pornography and other charges.