Following his latest attempt to get out of jail, R Kelly has lost yet another appeal to have a sex trafficking conviction overturned.
Currently serving a three decade-long prison sentence since 2023, the disgraced superstar singer/songwriter was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.
After the now 58-year-old musician’s former March 2024 appeal, a judge in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan denied his attempt to have his conviction overturned on Wednesday (2.12.)
After the courts were informed for how the recording artist had exploited his fame in order to abuse girls and young women for more than a quarter century, Circuit Judge Denny Chin explained that prosecutors had provided “extensive evidence showing how Kelly ensnared young girls and women into his orbit, endeavored to control their lives, and secured their compliance with his personal and sexual demands through verbal and physical abuse, threats of blackmail, and humiliation.”
On behalf of a three-judge panel, Chin delivered the verdict and explained that the defendant had planned to convince his victims that they would be harmed if they did not agree to his sexual demands.
Arguing that the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) had not been properly applied to her client’s case, Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney confirmed that the musician will appeal the ruling again. The lawyer argued the latest decision, per Reuters, “gives the government limitless discretion to apply the RICO statute to situations absurdly remote from the statute’s intent… The statute was intended to punish organised crime, not individual conduct.”
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Polk County Sheriff’s Office – Public Domain