Opinion: R. Kelly’s Sentence Too Short
R. Kelly awaits an Aug. 15 trial on several cases in Chicago’s Cook County, including an indictment in a federal case. He also faces a solicitation with a minor case in Minnesota.
(R. Kelly at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on September 17, 2019 in Chicago. | Antonio Perez - Pool via Getty Images)
Famed R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison, after being convicted of nine federal charges that included both racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence him to more than 25 years while the defense asked for less than 10 years. He plans to appeal his conviction.
With decades of alleged crimes against him, it’s unfortunate to see how long it has taken for Robert Sylvester Kelly to be put in prison, as he was still able to walk the streets while making millions of dollars.
On the surface level this is something that is going to be looked at as just an awful human who’s done heinous things, which is true. However, he represents the personification of a bigger social problem: women and young girls being ignored when they cry out against sexual abuse.
His notoriety and then-deep pockets, just like Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, to name a few, allowed the self-described Pied Piper of R&B to intimidate survivors and continue his pattern of sexually criminal behavior.
We can say that justice has finally been served, but 30 years is not enough.
Kelly awaits an Aug. 15 trial on several cases in Chicago’s Cook County, including an indictment in a federal case. He also faces a solicitation with a minor case in Minnesota.
He was acquitted in 2008 of more than a dozen counts of child pornography in Chicago and has been the subject of several documentaries detailing his predatory past over the last three decades, including Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly” and CBS News’ “The Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly.”