R Kelly LOSES bid to quash 20-year jail sentence for child sex attacks in Chicago but vows ‘our fight is not over’ – one day after bombshell overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction

Disgraced singer R. Kelly has had his attempts to appeal his 20 year prison sentence quashed by an appeals court. 

Jurors in 2022 convicted the R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, on three charges of producing child porn, and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.

In his appeal, Kelly argued that Illinois’ former and shorter statute of limitations on child sex prosecutions should have applied to his Chicago case rather than current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive. 

The 57-year-old also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial. 

In their Friday ruling, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals rejected Kelly’s argument that he should not have been prosecuted since the allegations occurred while Illinois law required prosecution of child sex crime charges within ten years. 

The panel labeled it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after ’employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet.’

Video evidence shown during the trial showed Kelly abusing a girl, identified only as Jane, who testified for that she was 14 when the video was taken. 

The three-judge panel noted that jurors acquitted Kelly on 7 of the 13 counts against him ‘even after viewing those abhorrent tapes.’

Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean told TMZ: ‘Our fight is not over. We will see review from the USSC (SCOTUS) on the statute of limitations questions at a minimum. 

‘And he has habeas remedies at his disposal. And if we win in NY. He will be entitled to resentencing in Illinois. So this story is far from over.’

Prosecutors in his home state had sought an even tougher sentence, asking for 25 years.

They also wanted a judge to not let that sentence begin until he completed a 30-year sentence imposed in 2022 in New York on federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions. 

Judge Harry Leinenweber rejected that ask, ordering that Kelly serve the 20 years from the Chicago case simultaneously with the New York sentence.

Kelly and his lawyers have separately appealed the New York sentence in which he faced nine charges. 

In court last month, Bonjean told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that federal prosecutors failed to prove that the singer led a racketeering scheme where he recruited underage girls for sex and then violated several victims.

Questions from the three-judge panel in Manhattan suggested that argument might be a tough sell.

‘Didn’t the government prove that one of the purposes of this enterprise was to recruit girls so that Kelly could have illegal sexual activity?’ Circuit Judge Denny Chin asked.

Bonjean said it did not do so by relying on evidence such as Kelly’s employees passing out the phone number backstage of the singer, perhaps best known for the 1996 Grammy-winning smash ‘I Believe I Can Fly.’

‘There was no evidence that anyone went out there saying, ‘May I find out what your age is, are you underage, come back, we want to serve you up to Mr. Kelly.”

Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan suggested that the ages of some accusers might have been have been obvious.

‘The appearance of these girls would be evidence enough, wouldn’t it?’ he asked Bonjean.

‘Looking young does not mean you know someone is a minor,’ Bonjean responded.

Kelly has been behind bars July 2019, now at the Butner, North Carolina prison that housed late Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. He will be 78 when eligible for release in 2045.

His conviction made him among the most prominent people convicted of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement.