R Kelly has been handed a 20-year prison sentence for child pornography and the enticement of minors for sex. 

He will serve nearly all of the sentence concurrently with a 30-year sentence imposed last year on racketeering charges. 

US District Judge Harry Leinenweber also ordered that Kelly serve one year in prison following his 30-year sentence. 

The central question going into the sentencing in Kelly’s hometown of Chicago was whether Judge Leinenweber would order that the 56-year-old serve the sentence simultaneously with or only after he completes the New York term for 2021 racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.

The latter would have been tantamount to a life sentence. 

Prosecutors had acknowledged that a lengthy term served only after the New York sentence could have erased any chance of Kelly ever getting out of prison alive.

It is what they asked for, arguing his crimes against children and lack of remorse justified the longer term in jail.

With Thursday's sentence, though, Kelly will serve no more than 31 years.

That means he will be eligible for release at around age 80, providing him some hope of one day leaving prison alive.

More to come

AP/ABC