R. Kelly‘s conviction for child pornography in Chicago has been upheld by an appellate court, and it is now likely that he will spend the remainder of his life in prison.
Bureau of Prisons records obtained by HipHopDX confirm that the disgraced singer is being held at a medium-security prison in North Carolina, and he is not due to be released until 2045, when he will be 78 years old.
Additionally, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the 2022 decision to convict him of the crime was upheld as of Friday (April 26), and it is unclear whether Kelly has any further opportunities to appeal.
R. Kelly will serve his sentence at the FCI Butner prison, where he was transferred from Chicago back in December 2023.
R. Kelly’s child pornography conviction upheld in Chicago pic.twitter.com/UWPSJPCU51
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) April 26, 2024
Last month, R. Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean claimed college fraternities could be deemed racketeering organizations under a law used to convict the singer.
The law was used when he was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.
Bonjean tried to persuade judges that prosecutors improperly used a racketeering statute written to shut down organized crime to go after R. Kelly, in attempt to reverse his 2021 convictions or win him a new trial.
She said it was unfair prosecutors charged Kelly with leading a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) enterprise from 1994 to 2018.
“This was not a collection of people who had a purpose to recruit girls for sexual abuse or child pornography,” she said. “Whether they turned a blind eye, whether some of them suspected that some of these girls were underage, that’s a whole different matter.
“And once we get into that sort of territory, where we’re going to say that constitutes a RICO enterprise, well we have a lot of organizations — we have a lot of frat houses — we have all types of organizations that are now going to become RICO enterprises.”
The judges reportedly questioned Bonjean and a prosecutor who defended the government’s handling of the case.
Assistant U.S. attorney Kayla Bensing stated Kelly’s network of aides and employees were part of Kelly’s “system in place that lured young people in to his orbit” before he “took over their lives.”