R. Kelly still ‘poses a serious danger to the public’, faces sentencing today

Monitoring Desk

LOS ANGELES: A US federal judge on Wednesday was set to sentence disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly nearly a year after he was convicted of leading a decades-long effort to recruit and trap teenagers and women for sexual abuse.

Prosecutors have urged the court to put the “I Believe I Can Fly” artist behind bars for at least 25 years, saying he still “poses a serious danger to the public.”

In September, a jury in Brooklyn federal court found the fallen superstar guilty on all nine charges he faced, including the most serious of racketeering.

“His actions were brazen, manipulative, controlling and coercive. He has shown no remorse or respect for the law,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

“A lengthy sentence of imprisonment will serve to deter others — including those with wealth, fame and the outsized power such status brings — from engaging in similar crimes,” they added.

The legal team representing the 55-year-old Kelly, who is currently incarcerated in Brooklyn awaiting his fate, have urged a lighter sentence with a maximum of approximately 17 years.

Jury selection in Kelly´s separate, long-delayed federal trial in Chicago is meanwhile scheduled to begin August 15.

In that case, Kelly and two of his former associates are alleged to have rigged the singer´s 2008 pornography trial and hid years of sexual abuse of minors.

The musician who once dominated R&B also faces prosecution in two other state jurisdictions.