R. Kelly left ‘a trail of broken lives,’ judge says – Chicago Tribune

Good afternoon, Chicago.

R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn after being convicted by a jury nine months ago of racketeering conspiracy and eight other counts alleging he used his organization to lure and trap girls, boys and young women to satisfy his predatory desires.

The Tribune’s Megan Crepeau is in federal court in New York covering the sentencing. The sentence came after several women, some soft-voiced and sobbing, others with blazing anger, spoke about a seemingly endless pattern of trauma and abuse at the hands of Kelly.

Crepeau reports that through it all, the singer sat silent. He looked down at his hands. He gazed into the gallery. He looked straight ahead. He did not look up at his accusers.

“These victims were disposable to you,” the judge told Kelly. “You left in your wake a trail of broken lives. … You taught them that love is enslavement and violence and humiliation.”

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