On Wednesday, June 29, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Following the verdict, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said that she plans to appeal the R.I.C.O charge that her client was charged with.
During a post-sentencing press conference, Bonjean spoke about appealing the charge, saying that there was no evidence to support that her client was a part of an enterprise, and called the charge “inappropriate.”
“These were not a RICO act violation,” Bonjean said at the 2:36-minute mark. “These were isolated events that happened many years and the government simply tried to plead around the statute of limitations to bring in a RICO charge, which was inappropriate.”
She continued, saying “all I can tell you is there was no enterprise. There was no enterprise. It was one man with allegations by a number of women, which doesn’t make it an enterprise, and that is why he’s not guilty of racketeering.”
She added that she was “excited” about the appeal, and “confident” that their appeal would persuade the court of appeals to dismiss the charge. She also said that she told Kelly to invoke his 5th amendment right and not take the stand.
You can watch the full press conference below.
