Prosecutors have recommended that Kelly be sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, arguing that the seriousness of the crimes for which he was convicted calls for “the need to protect the public from new crimes.” Kelly was convicted on nine counts, including charges of extortion and sex trafficking after a five-week federal trial in Brooklyn that included the testimony of several witnesses who say they were sexually and physically abused by Kelly. The trial also included the testimony of several people involved in the orchestration of Kelly’s marriage in 1994 to the late singer Aaliyah when she was only 15 and he was an adult after she believed she had become pregnant. Prosecutors said Kelly used her celebrity status and “a network of people at her disposal to target girls, boys and young women for their own sexual gratification.”
Defense attorneys argued that Kelly should be sentenced to 10 years or less, saying more than would be “more than necessary.”
Kelly is being held in a Brooklyn federal detention center and, once convicted, is expected to be transferred back to Chicago, where she will face another federal trial in August on charges of child pornography and obstruction.
Childhood trauma
In more than 14 hours of interviews with psychiatrist experts, Kelly said her closest relationship as she grew up was with her mother. Her first memories were seeing her mother perform as a singer in a band called “Six Pack”, and she often accompanied her to McDonald’s where she drank coffee and shared a pastry shop. He had never met his father and described his mother’s death as the most tragic event of his life, saying he would go to McDonald’s often to smell the coffee and remember it, according to a letter from Renee Sorrentino. clinical assistant professor at Harvard. School of Medicine.
“To me, the ‘M’ means mom. To go to McDonald’s is to always be by my mom’s side,” Kelly said.
But his childhood was also marked by trauma.
Kelly saw a childhood love drown when she was a small child. And several people interviewed by psychiatrist experts say Kelly was sexually abused repeatedly starting when she was a six- or seven-year-old boy, her lawyer wrote, saying she was abused by her older sister and also by an owner, of times in a “weekly.” base “.
Sorrentino said in his letter that Kelly’s sexual abuse during childhood may have contributed to her “hypersexuality” or difficulty controlling sexual impulses, and she believes that was a factor in her criminal convictions.
Although Kelly was convicted of sexually exploiting a child, Sorrentino said he refused to diagnose Kelly with pedophilia because he told her his “sexual behavior has never involved prepubescent people.”
“Equivalent to life imprisonment”
In the nine months since her conviction, Kelly has replaced her entire legal team with Jennifer Bonjean and her firm, the lawyer who helped Bill Cosby overturn his conviction for sexual assault and, more recently, represented Cosby in a civil case he lost in the trial earlier. this month.
Prosecutors have argued that Kelly “used children and young women for her own sexual gratification” for nearly 30 years with the help of her inner circle and that she must now be held accountable.
Bonjean writes that the prosecutor’s request to imprison the singer for more than 25 years would be “equivalent to life imprisonment” for the 55-year-old singer.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor who has prosecuted cases using both the extract and Mann Act laws for which Kelly was convicted, said the judge will have ample discretion to impose a sentence it deems appropriate.
“In general, after a trial, it is more difficult for a defendant to get his or her recommended sentence rank,” Honig said. “Now the judge has seen all the evidence against the accused, heard the victims and that tends to increase the sentence.”
Prosecutors faced threats
The weekend before Kelly’s sentencing, a Chicago man named Christopher Gunn who had attended Kelly’s trial in Brooklyn was arrested and charged with making threats against the three U.S. attorneys who prosecuted Kelly in New York. York, according to a copy of his arrest warrant.
Gunn was arrested Saturday for allegedly posting threats to kill or seriously injure the three prosecutors. According to the arrest warrant, Gunn posted a video on his YouTube channel in October, shortly after Kelly was found guilty, showing a picture of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York where women work. Prosecutors believe a voice narrating the video is from Gunn, and he says, “That’s where they’re. That’s where they work … We’re going to storm the office,” saying the names of each of the three prosecutors.
“If you don’t have the stomach for the shit we’re about to do, I’m asking you to rescue her,” he allegedly said in the video.
Prosecutors also said they analyzed a Gunn-linked CashApp account showing various transactions from February 26, 2021 to June 1, which they said indicated that Gunn “was engaged in the sale of ammunition. firearms in connection with the Kelly affair “. The transactions included $ 20 payments with descriptions that said “30 rounds … R kelly free.” CNN has contacted a Kelly attorney to comment.
Prosecutors believe Gunn planned to attend Kelly’s sentencing Wednesday after he posted another video saying he had a “place” for his followers to be near the court.
CNN has contacted a Gunn attorney to comment. He is scheduled to hold an arrest hearing on Wednesday.
Singer support
Among the letters calling for a lower sentence for Kelly is one written by Diana Copeland, Kelly’s former aide who testified as a government witness and also wrote a letter in support of Kelly saying she did it because it was “the right one.”
“God doesn’t want us to throw humans away,” Copeland wrote. “If we have the audacity to care for the perpetrators and the victims, we can all stand up.”
Joycelyn Savage, who was considered a victim of Kelly by prosecutors, remains a supporter.
“Robert and I are deeply in love and it breaks my heart that the government has created a narrative that I am a victim of,” Savage wrote. “I’m an adult woman and I can speak for myself, that’s why I wanted to send this letter to court.”
In her letter, Savage revealed that she is now engaged to Kelly.