R. Kelly's attorney says the 'musical genius' doesn't deserve 25 years in prison for his crimes because he was sexually abused as a child

• R. Kelly's attorney wrote in a sentencing memo unsealed Tuesday that his sister sexually abused him.
• Prosecutors have asked for Kelly to be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for his crimes.

A lawyer for R. Kelly asked a federal judge to sentence him to no more than 10 years in prison, blaming his "hypersexual" behavior on being repeatedly sexual abused by his sister as a child.

In a sentencing memo unsealed on Tuesday, his lawyer wrote that Kelly's traumatic childhood growing up in a violent household justifies leniency.

Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced at US District Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. He faces up to life in prison.

Prosecutors have asked Judge Ann Donnelly to sentence Kelly to at least 25 years in prison on the sex trafficking and racketeering charges he was convicted of in September.

"A 25-year sentence is tantamount to a life sentence for Defendant who is 55 years old," Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean wrote. "Defendant's convictions involve four victims who describe conduct that is simply not deserving of a de facto life sentence."

A New York federal jury agreed with prosecutors, that the R&B star ran an enterprise that recruited and groomed young women and girls for him to have illegal sex with.

The young women in Kelly's orbit — many of whom were teenagers when they began sexual relationships with the singer — testified throughout the trial that he controlled the minutiae of their lives, even requiring them to get his permission to use the bathroom and forbidding them from looking at other men. The victims testified they were sexually abused, beaten, and blackmailed.

The trial also unveiled new information about the nature of Kelly's short-lived sham marriage with Aaliyah, the R&B singer he mentored from the age of 12. Witnesses testified that he took her as his child bride so he could get her access to an abortion without parental consent.

Bonjean painted a different picture in the sentencing memo: "Defendant is widely accepted as a musical genius with a rags-to-riches story. He is considered the greatest living R&B singer and has earned multiple Grammy awards. He has written and produced music for celebrated artists like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Notwithstanding his legendary status, Robert Kelly is a man with a rich and complicated story that is highly relevant to this Court's goal of fashioning an appropriate sentence for him."

Bonjean is a high-profile attorney who has also represented sex cult leader Keith Raniere and Bill Cosby.

Childhood trauma led to 'hypersexual' behavior, Kelly's lawyer argued

Bonjean wrote that Kelly grew up in a dangerous neighborhood in Chicago, where his mother and stepfather raised him in poverty.

The couple were heavy drinkers and Kelly and his brothers were disciplined with whippings, his lawyer wrote. On one occasion, Kelly's mother stabbed him in the arm with a knife that she was threatening him and his brother with, according to the sentencing memo.

Outside of the home, there was gang violence in the neighborhood, and when Kelly was 14, he was shot in the arm while riding his bike, Bonjean wrote.

Two psychologists who evaluated Kelly wrote in reports submitted with the memo that his older sister sexually abused him and his brothers for years, and started when Kelly was only six. Kelly's landlord and a family friend also sexually abused him, according to the memo.

This trauma, Bonjean argued, likely contributed to his "hypersexual" behavior and impaired his cognitive ability.

Kelly is functionally illiterate and has the cognitive ability of a student of elementary school level, Bonjean wrote.

In a response to Bonjean's request, prosecutors wrote that Kelly is not remorseful for his crimes, and that he lied in the interviews with the doctors who prepared the reports his lawyer cited.

"First, the defendant continues to avoid any acknowledgment of the seriousness of his conduct or the harm that he caused, further supporting the government's contention that the defendant has shown no acceptance of responsibility and is unlikely to be deterred from committing future crimes," Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes wrote.

The prosecutor continued: "Second, in his submission, the defendant perpetuates his version of events in a manner that is flagrantly false and contrary to the evidence adduced at trial."