R. Kelly's attorneys seek mandatory minimum 10-year sentence in New York sex trafficking conviction
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is asking for leniency ahead of his sentencing hearing in New York later this month.
Kelly's lawyers have asked a federal judge to sentence him to the mandatory minimum 10-year sentence for his conviction on racketeering and other charges following his conviction last year at a sex trafficking trial in Brooklyn.
The document was filed under seal, so details of Kelly's arguments for leniency are not publicly available, but a judge might unseal the document before Kelly's sentencing.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Kelly, 55, to at least 25 years in prison.
Several accusers testified in lurid detail during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected his victims to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
Kelly used his "fame, money and popularity" to systematically "prey upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification," prosecutors wrote in the filing.
"He continued his crimes and avoided punishment for them for almost 30 years and must now be held to account," prosecutors wrote.
Among multiple sordid allegations, jurors heard testimony about a fraudulent marriage scheme hatched to protect Kelly after he feared he had impregnated R&B phenom Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15. Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time.
Aaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number." She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.
Kelly's sentencing is set for June 29.
He also faces a trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges in federal court in Chicago, starting Aug. 1.
The federal charges against Kelly in Chicago accuse him of videotaping himself having sex with underage girls, and paying hush money and intimidating witnesses to cover up his crimes.
He's also facing multiple sexual assault and sexual abuse charges in Cook County. The first of those trials has been delayed multiple times due to the pandemic.
He's also facing charges of prostitution involving a child in Minnesota.
