Federal prosecutors said this week they “strenuously oppose” a bid from R&B singer R. Kelly’s attorneys to delay his sentencing for sex trafficking convictions in New York.

Jennifer Ann Bonjean, Kelly’s new attorney, filed last week to delay the May 4 sentencing until after his August trial in Illinois on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges.

Prosecutors in New York said that Kelly’s victims “have waited years” to see him “held to account.”

As CrimeOnline previously reported, the 54-year-old singer was found guilty last September on nine counts of federal racketeering and sex trafficking. He faces 10 years to life in prison on those counts.

According to the New York Post, Bonjean wrote to federal Judge Ann Donnelly saying she was concerned that Kelly’s potential testimony to a mitigation expert for sentencing could be used against him in Illinois.

Prosecutors wrote on Monday, however, that Bonjean’s argument was nothing more than “speculative concern” and that it “strains credibility that [Kelly] would say anything to a potential mitigation expert that would incriminate him” in Illinois.

The prosecutors also said they would not share any such testimony with prosecutors in Illinois and “would welcome a court order further prohibiting any such disclosure.”

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[Featured image: R. Kelly during a hearing in Chicago in 2019. (Antonio Perez/ via AP Pool)]

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