An appeals court upheld R. Kelly's conviction for sex assault in Chicago

According to CBS News, R. Kelly's defense team said that his indictment on charges of child enticement and child pornography was brought after the statute of limitations had expired, but the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected their arguments.

The 20-year sentence was deemed "unduly harsh" by his legal team, who were requesting a new sentencing hearing in appeals court.

In a unanimous decision, Judge Amy St. Eve stated, "Robert Sylvester Kelly abused underage girls for years." He avoided punishment for a long time by using a cunning plan to keep victims silent.

But in recent years, those transgressions finally caught up with him. However, Kelly believes that by putting up a statute of limitations defense, he was able to completely avoid the charges by delaying them.

"We uphold his conviction because the statute clearly indicates otherwise. Even after seeing those disgusting tapes, Kelly was found guilty by a jury of all members but was exonerated on numerous counts.

He is not immune to the consequences of his actions, and the punishment imposed was both legally correct and, given the terrible circumstances, fairly just.

September 2022 saw a Chicago federal jury convict R. Kelly on six counts of child enticement and child pornography.

His 14-year-old goddaughter was among the three youngsters he sexually abused in tapes that led to his conviction, despite being cleared of seven other charges. His sentence to 20 years in prison was handed out on February 2023.

Following his conviction by a federal jury in 2021 for child sex crimes and racketeering in New York, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The sentencing occurred just over half a year ago. In the meanwhile, he is appealing the New York conviction while serving the sentences concurrently.

In the same week that the rape conviction of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein in New York was overturned, the charges and sentence against R. Kelly were upheld. He was found guilty in February 2020 and given a 23-year prison sentence.

In Los Angeles in 2022, he was charged with an additional 16 years, to be served separately. The ruling in New York has no bearing on his California sentence.