R. Kelly Avoids Lengthy Add-On to 30-year Prison Sentence

R. Kelly Avoids Lengthy Add-On to 30-year Prison Sentence
R. Kelly (C) leaves the Daley Center after a hearing in his child support case in Chicago on May 8, 2019. Matt Marton/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:
0:00

CHICAGO—R. Kelly was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison for child pornography and enticement of minors for sex but will serve all but one of those simultaneously with a separate 30-year sentence on racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.

The sentence means Kelly could leave prison alive, when he’s about 80. Prosecutors had asked Judge Harry Leinenweber to sentence the 56-year-old Grammy Award winner to 25 years and have him start serving them only after he completed his earlier sentence. That would have been tantamount to sending him to prison for life.