![]() Now, let us remember to equally focus on all victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence who also deserve justice and protection.SALT LAKE CITY - Sister Patricia Terry Holland, wife of Elder Jeffrey R. “I applaud the courageous survivors for speaking up and making sure no other person will become his victim ever again. Kelly’s survivors saw our federal court system hand down justice for the crimes of which he was convicted last year,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who helped encourage victims to come forward, said in a statement. He's still facing child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in Chicago, where a trial is scheduled to begin Aug. Kelly has been jailed without bail since in 2019. The women who spoke at Kelly's sentencing were identified only by first names or pseudonyms. The Associated Press does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused, unless they come forward publicly. Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18 he was 27 at the time.Īaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.” She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.Īn earlier defense memo suggested prosecutors’ arguments for a higher sentence overreached by falsely claiming Kelly participated in the paying of a bribe to a government official in order to facilitate the illegal marriage. He didn't testify at his trial, but his then-lawyers portrayed his accusers as girlfriends and groupies who weren't forced to do anything against their will and stayed with him because they enjoyed the perks of his lifestyle.Įvidence also was presented about a fraudulent marriage scheme hatched to protect Kelly after he feared he had impregnated R&B phenom Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15. Some said they believed the videotapes he shot of them having sex would be used against them if they exposed what was happening.Īccording to testimony, Kelly gave several accusers herpes without disclosing he had an STD, coerced a teenage boy to join him for sex with a naked girl who emerged from underneath a boxing ring in his garage, and shot a shaming video that showed one victim smearing feces on her face as punishment for breaking his rules. The accusers alleged they were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as “Rob’s rules.” Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, used his “fame, money and popularity” to systematically “prey upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this month. The Brooklyn federal court jury convicted him after hearing that he used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation that prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise. A jury there acquitted him in 2008, and he settled the lawsuit.Īll the while, Kelly continued to sell millions of albums. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who alleged sexual battery and sexual harassment while she was a minor, and he later faced criminal child pornography charges related to a different girl in Chicago. ![]() The hitmaker is known for work including the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Closet,” a multi-part tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.Īllegations that Kelly abused young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. Kelly’s lawyers had argued he should get no more than 10 years in prison because he had a traumatic childhood “involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence.”Īs an adult with “literacy deficiencies,” the star was "repeatedly defrauded and financially abused, often by the people he paid to protect him,” his lawyers said. Widespread outrage over Kelly’s sexual misconduct didn’t come until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the docuseries “Surviving R. ![]() Lollapalooza 2023: From street closures to what you can bring inside, here's what to know ![]()
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