Survivors of Kelly’s abuse held palms and prayed as US District Court Judge Ann Donnelly started studying his sentence. Kelly — who wore a tan prison uniform, dark-rimmed glasses and a black masks on the listening to in federal courtroom in Brooklyn — confirmed no emotion.
“You left in your wake a trail of broken lives,” Donnelly instructed Kelly, whose full identify is Robert Sylvester Kelly.
In deciding the sentence, Donnelly mentioned she thought-about Kelly’s personal traumatic childhood, throughout which his attorneys mentioned he was repeatedly sexually abused by a member of the family and a landlord.
“It may explain, at least in part, what led to your behavior,” the choose mentioned. “It most surely is not an excuse.”
Jovante Cunningham, a former backup singer for Kelly, praised the sentence.
“I started this journey 30 years ago,” Cunningham mentioned outdoors the courtroom after the listening to. “There wasn’t a day in my life up until this moment that I actually believed that the judicial system would come through for Black and brown girls. I stand here very proud of my judicial system, very proud of my fellow survivors and very pleased with the outcome.”
Kelly’s legal professional, Jennifer Bonjean, mentioned he wouldn’t tackle the courtroom, pointing to the opposite felony case confronted by Kelly, however mentioned earlier than the sentence was learn that her consumer “rejects that he is this monster.”
“He accepts that he is a flawed individual,” Bonjean mentioned, “but he is not this one-dimensional monster that the government has portrayed and the media has portrayed.”
Kelly made his solely remark in response to the choose after Bonjean mentioned he would not communicate: “Yes, your honor, that’s my wish.”
Bonjean mentioned she suggested Kelly not to communicate on the sentencing due to pending litigation in opposition to him, however added, “he has regrets. And he is sad. Nobody wants to hear what he heard today.”
‘No one can undo the hurt’
Prior to sentencing, the courtroom heard influence statements from seven of Kelly’s victims, together with Jane Doe 2, who testified at trial.
“It’s been 23 years since we knew each other, and you’ve victimized a lot of girls since then,” she mentioned, addressing Kelly. She later added: “Now it’s your turn to have your freedom taken from you.”
(*30*)”No one can undo the harm that has been done to these victims,” legal professional Gloria Allred, who represented three victims who testified, instructed reporters Wednesday outdoors courtroom. “But at least it’s time for Mr. Kelly to be accountable.”
Defense attorneys and prosecutors argued Wednesday in courtroom over whether or not Kelly even might pay a fantastic. The protection mentioned he’s “pretty close to indigent” and couldn’t. Prosecutors disagreed, saying cash from the sale of a few of his music rights and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in royalties held by Sony might cowl any fantastic.
“We were prepared for it,” Bonjean mentioned of the sentence outdoors the courtroom. “We are now prepared to fight this appeal.”
Childhood trauma revealed
In over 14 hours of interviews with psychiatrist specialists, Kelly mentioned his closest relationship rising up was together with his mom. His earliest reminiscences have been watching his mother carry out as a singer in a band referred to as “Six Pack,” and he would typically accompany her to McDonald’s the place she would drink espresso and they might share a pastry.
Kelly had by no means met his father and described his mom’s dying as essentially the most tragic occasion of his life, saying he would go to McDonald’s continuously to odor the espresso and bear in mind her, in accordance to a letter filed by Renee Sorrentino, a scientific assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
“To me, the ‘M’ stands for mom. Going to McDonald’s is always being around my mother,” Kelly mentioned.
But his childhood was additionally marked by trauma.
Kelly noticed a childhood sweetheart drown when he was a little bit boy. And individuals interviewed by psychiatrist specialists say Kelly was repeatedly sexually abused starting when he was a 6 or 7-year-old boy, his legal professional wrote, saying he was abused by his older sister and additionally a landlord, at occasions on a “weekly basis.”
Sorrentino mentioned in her letter Kelly’s childhood sexual abuse might have contributed to his “hypersexuality,” or issue controlling sexual urges, and believes it was an element in his felony convictions.
While Kelly was convicted of sexual exploitation of a kid, Sorrentino refused to diagnose Kelly with pedophilia as a result of he instructed her his “sexual behavior has never involved prepubescent individuals,” she mentioned.
Faith, one other girl who testified at Kelly’s trial, countered that protection argument Wednesday in her sufferer influence assertion, saying her personal father had additionally been sexually abused as a toddler however “never molested me.”
Support for the singer
Among the letters that requested for a shorter sentence for Kelly was one written by Diana Copeland, Kelly’s former assistant who testified as a authorities witness and mentioned she wrote a letter in assist of Kelly as a result of it was the “right thing to do.”
“God doesn’t want us to throw humans away,” Copeland wrote. “If we have the audacity to care for the perpetrators as well as the victims, we can all rise.”
Joycelyn Savage, who was thought-about a sufferer of Kelly’s by prosecutors, additionally stays a supporter.
“Robert and I are deeply in love and it breaks my heart that the government has created a narrative that I’m a victim,” Savage wrote. “I’m a grown woman, and can speak for myself which is why I wanted to provide this letter to the court.”
In her letter, Savage revealed she is now engaged to Kelly.
Prosecutors confronted threats
Ahead of the sentencing, a Chicago man who had attended Kelly’s trial in Brooklyn was arrested and charged for making threats in opposition to the three US attorneys who prosecuted Kelly, a duplicate of his arrest warrant reveals.
Christopher Gunn was arrested Saturday for allegedly posting threats to kill or critically injure the feminine prosecutors.
According to the arrest warrant, Gunn posted video to his YouTube channel in October, shortly after Kelly was discovered responsible, that confirmed a picture of the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York the place the ladies work. Prosecutors imagine a voice narrating the video is Gunn’s, and he says, “That’s where they at. That’s where they work at … We’re going to storm the office,” saying every of the three prosecutors’ names.
“If you ain’t got the stomach for the sh*t we ’bout to do, I’m asking that you just bail out,” he allegedly mentioned in the video.
Prosecutors additionally analyzed a CashApp account linked to Gunn that reveals a number of transactions from February 26, 2021, to June 1 that point out Gunn “engaged in the sale of firearm ammunition in relation to the Kelly matter,” they mentioned. Transactions included funds for $20 with descriptions saying “30 rounds.. free R kelly.” CNN has reached out to an legal professional for Kelly for remark.
Prosecutors imagine Gunn was planning to attend Kelly’s sentencing on Wednesday after he posted one other video saying he had a “spot” for supporters to meet up close to the courthouse.
CNN has reached out to an legal professional for Gunn, who is predicted to have a detention listening to Wednesday.