EXCLUSIVE: R. Kelly’s Lawyer Rips Government’s Request For Additional 25 Years In Prison

R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison last June. Convicted on nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering, the embattled R&B singer immediately vowed to appeal. But earlier this month, the government moved to add another 25 years to his Cook County sentence.

According to court docs obtained by AllHipHop, Kelly’s defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean finds the motion ludicrous. As Bonjean claims, the government falsely paints Kelly as a “serial sexual predator” with “no remorse.” But she says Kelly is painfully aware of the consequences.

As Bonjean explains in the docs, “By submitting a sentencing memorandum that dares to challenge the government’s narrative in any way, the government accuses Kelly of victim-blaming, lack of remorse and failing to ‘grasp the gravity of his criminal conduct.’

“It is the government that fails to grasp that Kelly still enjoys a few constitutional and statutory protections that allow him to challenge the government’s take on the evidence and advocate for an appropriate sentence without being labeled a monster who has no remorse. The jury that heard this case seemed to respect those basic principles of our criminal justice process […] In reality, no one grasps the seriousness of the crimes for which Kelly was convicted more than Kelly.”

She continues, “Kelly has every right to advocate for himself and argue for a fair sentence that acknowledges the seriousness of the offenses while also pushing back on the government’s embellished narrative that relies significantly on acquitted conduct.”

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Bonjean goes on to accuse the government of trampling on Kelly’s Fifth Amendment rights and being “far more concerned” with press conferences instead of a reasonable disposition that “would have allowed Kelly to “take responsibility.” Bonjean also says the government claims Kelly used “fear” to induce prohibited sexual activity, which she denies.

“Kelly did not use threats or force to induce Jane, Pauline and Nia into the prohibited sexual conduct, nor did he cause them to fear bodily harm, or any type of harm to induce the prohibited sexual conduct,” Bonjean continues. “Simply put, the tactics that the government claims Kelly used were very different. The government claims Kelly groomed the minors; he showered them with affection; he bought them presents; he promised them various things; and wowed them with his superstar power.

“None of these facts let Kelly off the hook for his conduct which is why he stands convicted of three counts of inducement, but the government cannot now claim he also used fear of bodily harm with the
victims when the victims made no such claims, the government advanced no such theory even in
the alternative, and the record suggests that the jury rejected any notion that the sexual abuse
was committed through acts of coercion.”

Bonjean concludes, “The government insists on exaggerating Kelly’s misdeeds, sounding more like a teaser for the next installation of Surviving R. Kelly than lawyers. The government declares Kelly a prolific sexual abuser of children but resorts to manufacturing evidence related to Aaliyah that has never been proven as support for this claim.

“Kelly is convicted of serious crimes as it is, yet the government is so committed to obtaining another life sentence for him that it resorts to invoking unsubstantiated Aaliyah claims, perpetuating rumors from tabloid docuseries, and attributing hyperbolic labels to Kelly rather than relying on the actual evidence to supports its ask.”

Bonjean insists “no upward variance is justified and numerous factors justify a sentence at the
lower end of the guidelines range.” She also acknowledges Kelly is likely already in prison for life considering he’s 56 years old.

Kelly currently has pending charges in Minnesota and an appeal in the Eastern District of New York.