A federal judge in Illinois has sentenced R. Kelly to 20 years in prison for his conviction on child pornography charges, but the decree effectively only tacks on an additional year to the disgraced singer’s already lengthy term behind bars. Prosecutors in Illinois had requested a 25-year sentence and asked Leinenweber to make that sentence run consecutively — not concurrently — to the New York sentence, essentially ensuring that Kelly, 56, would die in prison. Leinenweber denied that request, instead sentencing Kelly to 20 years on the charges, 19 of which could be served at the same time as his New York incarceration. Kelly was convicted in September in Illinois of three counts of child pornography and three counts of criminal sexual abuse. State prosecutors in Illinois announced in January that they were dropping charges against him in light of the two federal court convictions.
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