U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday the multiplatinum R&B singer R. Kelly deserves to spend more than 25 years in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking.
In a filing in Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors said the 55-year-old Kelly exploited his stardom over a quarter century to lure women and underage girls for sex, demonstrating a "callous disregard" for his victims and showing no remorse.
"Indeed, the defendant's decades of crime appear to have been fueled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct – no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others – to the strictures of the law," prosecutors said.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, faces a mandatory minimum 10-year term at his June 29 sentencing.
Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Kelly, has said he should spend fewer than 14 years in prison, and will in a filing next Monday explain why his "history and characteristics" justify a shorter sentence than prosecutors want.
Bonjean's office declined to comment.
© 2024 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.