R.Kelly.Photo: Antonio Perez/AP/Shutterstock
R&B singer and songwriterR. Kellyis facing a possible 25-year jail sentence, following a request from federal prosecutors filed in New York on Wednesday.
In the filing, which was submitted to the Eastern District of New York,prosecutors cited Kelly’s “decades of crime"and “callous disregard for the very real effects that his crimes had on his victims” in the 31-page filing, theChicago Sun Timesreported.
They continued that Kelly’s “actions were brazen, manipulative, controlling and coercive. He has shown no remorse or respect for the law,” the outlet reported.
“Put simply, [Kelly’s] crimes were calculated, methodical, and part [of] a long-standing pattern of using his platform as a larger-than-life musical persona and his deep network to gain access to teenagers, many of whom were particularly vulnerable, and then to exploit them for his personal gain and sexual gratification.”
R.Kelly appears in court.Antonio Perez/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire
In response, Kelly’s attorneyJennifer Bonjean asked the court to hand her client a sentence of less than 14 years behind bars, reported Reuters. The disgraced musician will be sentenced on June 29.
Much of the evidence surrounded Kelly’s contentious 1994 marriage to singerAaliyah Haughton, who was aged just 15 at the time of the ceremony. Kelly, meanwhile, was aged 27.
JASON WAMBSGANS/AFP/Getty
In Wednesday’s memo, prosecutors also wrote about the wedding, which was later annulled with the help of Aaliyah’s family. Tragically, the five-timeGrammynomineedied in a plane crashon Aug. 25, 2001, along with seven others after shooting a music video for her song “Rock the Boat.”
“Aaliyah was only 12 at the time [Kelly’s] sexual abuse of her began and 15 when he secretly and fraudulently married her in an effort to protect himself from the consequences of that abuse,” prosecutors wrote Wednesday, theChicago Sun Timesreported.
source: people.com
