馃攳
R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking and racketeering - YouTube
Channel: unknown
[0]
[Music]
[5]
we have breaking news right now a judge
[7]
has sentenced singer r kelly to 30 years
[11]
in prison he was convicted in september
[13]
of racketeering and eight counts of sex
[15]
trafficking during the trial multiple
[18]
witnesses spoke about how they were
[20]
sexually and physically abused by kelly
[22]
prosecution argued he used his celebrity
[25]
status to create a quote network of
[27]
people at his disposal to target girls
[30]
boys and young women for his own sexual
[32]
gratification let's bring in paul
[35]
bautista he is a criminal defense lawyer
[37]
as well as the author of the book civil
[40]
rico paul thanks very much for being
[42]
with us i want to get your reaction to
[44]
this are you surprised
[47]
i'm not at all surprised uh these were
[50]
these were very heavy sentences but this
[52]
is this has been a bad two days
[54]
for the rich and famous miss maxwell
[56]
yesterday and
[57]
r kelly today are both in effect
[59]
sentenced to life in prison
[61]
and uh this the size of r kelly's uh
[65]
sentence which exceeded the amount that
[68]
the government was demanding
[70]
didn't really come as a surprise to me
[72]
given the fact that he unusually enough
[75]
he was convicted of uh
[77]
violations of the racketeering statute
[79]
what we commonly call the rico statute
[81]
which carries enormous penalties so it
[84]
was no surprise to me so
[86]
paul as you pointed out prosecution
[88]
prosecutors were asking for uh 25 years
[91]
the judge issued a higher sentence than
[94]
that why do you think that the
[96]
prosecution didn't ask for a higher
[98]
sentence considering what you said and
[99]
how often
[100]
does that happen that the judge exceeds
[102]
the prosecution's recommendations
[105]
uh it does happen fairly frequently you
[107]
have to remember that judges sit there
[109]
through the entire
[111]
trial they are except for ruling on
[114]
objections to evidence they form their
[116]
own impression impressions of the
[119]
evidence of the witnesses they're
[121]
staring at the defendants
[123]
and judges do have even in the federal
[126]
courts much more so in the state courts
[129]
judges do have discretion
[131]
to exceed what we call
[133]
the the uh sentencing guidelines
[137]
and this uh this particular judge
[140]
is uh not known as a harsh sentencer but
[143]
she's a very attentive judge
[145]
and uh she must have formed some very
[148]
distinct reactions to
[150]
mr kelly's demeanor
[152]
his constant substitution of lawyers i
[155]
think that tended to cut against him
[158]
but again the the basic principle would
[160]
be that she she the judge in the kelly
[163]
case
[164]
was applying that driving force
[168]
of the racketeering statute which was
[170]
not annoying in ms maxwell's sentencing
[173]
yesterday
[174]
well kelly has replaced his legal team
[177]
since he was convicted he is now
[179]
represented by the same attorney who
[181]
helped get bill cosby's conviction
[183]
overturned what does that suggest paul
[185]
about his strategy
[188]
well his strategy seems to be all over
[190]
the place if you look at the docket
[192]
sheet which is publicly available
[194]
kelly has
[197]
or deter attorneys with great frequency
[199]
he has a right to do that
[202]
uh he did it
[204]
uh
[205]
certainly
[206]
if he's if he believes that by bringing
[209]
in new lawyers at this late date
[213]
before just before the sentencing he's
[216]
throwing a hail mary pass because the
[218]
record is already set
[220]
the sentencing memoranda of both sides
[223]
were already submitted and the judge had
[225]
probably already
[227]
made her decision
[229]
certainly kelly is going to appeal
[231]
certainly ms maxwell will appeal
[234]
uh but the the unfortunate part for both
[238]
of them
[238]
is that
[240]
convictions in federal court are very
[243]
infrequently reversed and speaking of
[245]
federal court paul kelly is facing a
[247]
separate federal trial in chicago for
[250]
child pornography and obstruction
[253]
charges there now that is expected to
[255]
start in august
[257]
is today's sentencing going to impact
[260]
that trial at all
[262]
uh it's it's an open question to me for
[264]
quite frankly tanya and i don't want to
[266]
get overly technical kelly was acquitted
[269]
by a state court on the charges for
[272]
which he is now going to be tried in the
[274]
federal court in illinois
[276]
so number one i would have the issue as
[279]
his lawyer of whether or not he was
[281]
facing double jeopardy
[283]
in effect being tried tried twice for
[286]
the same offense
[287]
and it it may well be that
[290]
given given the sentence here in new
[293]
york against kelly
[295]
the senate the proceeding in federal
[298]
court
[299]
in illinois in chicago
[301]
may well
[302]
disappear uh i'm not making that
[305]
prediction but that does often happen
[309]
um on the um situation here in new york
[314]
uh does our kelly have a route for an
[316]
appeal do you see a basis for that given
[318]
the facts of the case
[321]
well
[322]
he has
[323]
he actually has uh
[326]
i'll put aside the
[328]
the pornographic element of all of this
[330]
which is horrendous
[332]
but as a technical matter and i don't
[334]
want to you know hack in the weeds
[336]
uh i think he may have a stronger basis
[340]
for an appeal of the racketeering
[343]
conviction because essential
[345]
to establishing a
[346]
racketeering conviction are a few
[349]
elements
[350]
but in order to do that you you as the
[354]
government have to show
[356]
that the victim was damaged in his or
[358]
her
[359]
business or a property and it seems to
[362]
me from the start
[364]
a glaring omission here has been
[368]
the lack of an impact
[371]
well i don't doubt that i dunked out the
[373]
the suffering of these young women and
[375]
now grown women but uh
[378]
significantly omitted from the proof was
[381]
what were the money damages
[383]
sustained by
[385]
uh the victims and i don't they
[388]
kelly may have a fairly strong argument
[391]
along those lines in which case
[394]
he the the substance wouldn't be
[396]
reversed but the case might well be sent
[398]
back for the government to have another
[400]
try
[401]
at establishing that critical element of
[404]
loss of
[406]
of monetary or financial loss
[408]
all right paul batista if you could uh
[410]
stand by for one moment we also want to
[411]
bring in cbs news national correspondent
[413]
rica duncan who is outside the
[415]
courthouse
[416]
with more on this hi can you give us
[418]
some color on what happened today inside
[420]
the courthouse when the sentencing was
[423]
read
[425]
well we were possibly expecting to hear
[427]
from r kelly but in the end his
[430]
attorney said that her client would not
[432]
be giving any statements as you guys
[434]
have just mentioned those pending cases
[436]
but the judge started off by simply
[438]
saying that the sentencing of another
[440]
human being was probably the hardest
[442]
thing that a judge has to do but laid
[444]
out what this sentencing was supposed to
[446]
reflect the sentence she said must
[448]
reflect the seriousness of the crime the
[450]
act as a deterrent and protect the
[452]
public from future crimes she mentioned
[455]
a number of other things but at the end
[457]
as you just mentioned of course if
[458]
you're just joining us r kelly's
[460]
sentenced to 30 years in prison the
[463]
federal prosecutors were asking for an
[465]
excess of 25 years so they got what they
[468]
were looking for meanwhile his defense
[470]
team was hoping somewhere in the range
[472]
of 10 years because they felt as though
[474]
the punishment did not fit the crimes
[476]
that he was convicted of
[478]
again we're hoping to hear from some of
[481]
the victims who were inside today
[483]
we know that federal prosecutors are
[485]
expected to come out
[486]
and address the media something that i
[488]
thought was very interesting because we
[490]
have heard from some of these victims
[492]
before
[493]
during the
[494]
actual testimony 45 witnesses were
[497]
called at that time
[498]
back in september during that six-week
[500]
trial but what i thought was interesting
[502]
was faith rogers who we first actually
[504]
interviewed a couple of years ago and
[506]
said that she got an std unknowingly
[509]
from r kelly when she was 19 years old
[512]
went up before
[514]
the court
[515]
and talked directly to r kelly talked
[517]
about what he did to her but then her
[520]
father
[521]
wanted to address him and said literally
[523]
i want to i want you to look at me man
[525]
to man father to father and he talked
[528]
about his own experience as a father
[530]
being abused as a young child and
[532]
empathized with r kelly and basically
[535]
said you know we could come here today
[536]
and be angry and upset
[538]
but we forgive you uh we have compassion
[540]
for you and we believe that there is
[542]
forgiveness in all of this if you admit
[545]
to what you did but as you heard earlier
[548]
as i was listening to you all speaking
[550]
to the attorney r kelly did not admit
[552]
any wrongdoing he had nothing to say to
[555]
the numerous victims today who gave
[557]
victim impact statements but again the
[560]
judge saying that this was not a case
[562]
about sex but that it was about violence
[564]
cruelty and control
[567]
jerica i'm wondering and you touched on
[569]
it there just a moment ago but what was
[571]
it like inside that courtroom as that
[574]
sentence was read is such an emotional
[577]
time for these survivors
[579]
there has been so much
[581]
emotion
[582]
leading up to this moment what is it
[585]
that the reaction was
[587]
throughout that courtroom as that
[590]
sentence was read
[593]
you know i didn't hear any of the people
[596]
who testified before and honestly i was
[598]
in the overflow room so i couldn't get a
[600]
good look at what
[602]
if any there was an emotion no reaction
[605]
or anything i didn't hear any signs of
[606]
relief or
[607]
anyone say anything but i think without
[610]
a doubt having spoken to many of these
[612]
women before there is a sense of relief
[614]
and finality
[616]
at these sentencings obviously it first
[618]
happens when the person
[620]
accused of these crimes is actually
[622]
convicted and that happened last year
[625]
but now here we are facing the day of
[627]
sentencing where these victims or
[629]
survivors if you will get a chance to
[631]
directly address the person that they
[633]
say destroyed their lives and change the
[636]
outcome of what they could have been
[638]
what they wanted to be because of this
[640]
man that they believe took advantage of
[642]
them so
[643]
just to hear the emotion from them
[646]
it was intense and again i i don't think
[648]
any of us were expecting to hear from
[650]
the father of somebody um
[652]
who was abused by our kelly sure
[655]
paul if you're still there i'm wondering
[657]
if you could comment on what we just
[658]
heard from jerica that you know r kelly
[660]
showed no
[661]
remorse he had nothing to say to the
[664]
victims or the family of the victims i
[666]
mean how can that factor into number one
[669]
the chance of an appeal as we were
[671]
discussing earlier um and number two you
[674]
know any sort of
[675]
early
[677]
obviously he has a long prison uh you
[679]
know term ahead of him any sort of early
[682]
release from prison
[684]
this is a fascinating case study i i
[686]
think that a miss maxwell's
[689]
admission of guilt and remorse before
[692]
she was actually sentenced
[694]
may have alleviated her sentence to some
[697]
degree it was in a way
[700]
an act of courage in a lifetime time and
[703]
i'm speaking about ms maxwell it didn't
[705]
demonstrate a lot of courage that may
[707]
have been helpful to her
[709]
uh kelly's response doesn't surprise me
[713]
given the nature of the evidence that
[716]
shows he was a man who was accustomed to
[719]
brutality accustomed to giving commands
[722]
and he was not gonna
[724]
in his view in his
[726]
macho world view
[728]
he wasn't gonna grab grovel in front of
[730]
a
[731]
federal judge to get a lesser sentence
[734]
had he had he shown some remorse
[737]
had he looked the victims in the eye and
[739]
shown some remorse
[741]
he may have gotten a 25-year sentence as
[743]
opposed to a 30-year sentence
[746]
and also in terms of appeal it's a very
[748]
very difficult question if you have a
[750]
client at sentencing
[752]
who says in effect i did it
[755]
i did the crime
[757]
that really almost negates any chance he
[760]
has or she has
[761]
of a reversal on appeal it's a very
[763]
complicated question
[766]
you know paul i'm wondering as well
[768]
when you look at these two cases
[771]
as we're talking about what does this
[773]
potentially sort of
[775]
what message does this send to those
[778]
survivors
[780]
of abuse of sex trafficking because we
[784]
have covered and jerica has covered
[786]
extensively how um so many times people
[790]
who survive this kind of abuse are
[793]
simply not believed and how that weighs
[796]
on them in even coming forward to
[799]
authorities
[800]
we know there's a lag between the time
[802]
that sometimes crimes occur and that the
[805]
people who survive are able to come
[807]
forward
[808]
sort of taken together now the way that
[810]
these cases have played out
[813]
what's your sense about the message that
[815]
sends regarding how our judicial system
[819]
views these cases and these survivors
[823]
well certainly
[825]
both of these cases i think
[827]
brilliantly
[829]
demonstrate that the law is very capable
[832]
of reaching back
[834]
long distances
[835]
to try to remedy these wrongs
[838]
it also illustrates to me
[840]
that the persistence
[842]
of the ladies or other victims there
[845]
could be male victims
[846]
uh over a course of in in several of
[849]
these cases 20 years two decades
[851]
the persistence can result
[854]
in obtaining
[856]
justice
[857]
so
[858]
the message is going to be
[861]
as difficult as it might be to finally
[863]
come forward
[865]
come forward the statutes of limitation
[868]
have been broadened
[870]
you will have your chance
[872]
to have justice done
[874]
to confront your abuser
[876]
and try to seek justice and balance so i
[880]
think both of these cases send very
[882]
strong messages to victims who may have
[885]
been
[887]
silenced by fear of recriminations
[890]
by fear that they won't be believed
[894]
shame
[895]
i think these are both very strong and
[897]
compelling cases
[898]
of victims to show strength and come
[901]
forward after many many years right
[903]
against high-powered in
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage