DEVELOPING Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 storm. Florida orders evacuations
Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 storm off Mexico and threatens Florida, forecasters say.
The singer R. Kelly was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison on child sex convictions in Chicago, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Jurors in 2022 convicted the Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly argued that Illinois' former and shorter statute of limitations on child sex crime prosecutions should have applied to his Chicago case rather than current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Federal prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser identified only as Jane testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Friday's ruling noted that jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him "even after viewing those abhorrent tapes."
The appeals court also rejected Kelly's argument that he should not have been prosecuted since the allegations occurred while Illinois law required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years. The panel labelled it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after "employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet."
In a written statement, Kelly's attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of the decision and "pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R. Kelly."
"We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over," she said.
Prosecutors in Kelly's hometown of Chicago had sought an even tougher sentence, asking for 25 years. They also wanted a judge to not let that time begin until after Kelly completed a 30-year sentence imposed in 2022 in New York for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Judge Harry Leinenweber rejected that ask, ordering that Kelly serve the 20 years from the Chicago case simultaneously with the New York sentence.
Kelly has separately appealed the New York sentence.
In arguments last month before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney Jennifer Bonjean asked the panel to find that prosecutors improperly used a racketeering statute written to shut down organized crime to go after the singer.
Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 storm off Mexico and threatens Florida, forecasters say.
Days after a political sign was erected outside Chip Wilson's Vancouver mansion, the waterfront property has been vandalized with graffiti.
Hurricane Milton quickly intensified to a Category 5 storm on Monday, reaching the most dangerous rank on what's known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
The contents of entire homes have been kicked to the curb in one south Tampa neighbourhood. Piles of garbage bags, broken trees and waterlogged furniture serve as reminders of how unforgiving nature can be.
Two people are in hospital after they were chased and shot at in what appears to be an act of road rage before eventually flipping their car while trying to escape, police say.
Sammy Basso, who was the longest living survivor of the rare genetic disease progeria, has died at the age of 28, the Italian Progeria Association said on Sunday.
The day after a minivan was set ablaze outside Vancouver City Hall, a 78-year-old man has been criminally charged.
A Canadian soldier who was exposed to toxic chemicals from burn pits while serving in Afghanistan has been awarded full medical compensation for testicular cancer after Veterans Affairs initially denied his claim.
Scurvy is not just an archaic diagnosis of 18th-century seafarers and doctors should watch for possible cases, according to researchers following a recent case.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.
Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.
A gargantuan gourd – affectionately named ‘Orangina’ by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home – earned the massive honour of being named B.C.’s heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.
Chantal Kreviazuk is set to return to Winnipeg to mark a major milestone in her illustrious musical career.
From the beaches of Cannes to the bustling streets of New York City, a new film by a trio of Manitoba directors has toured the international film festival circuit to much pomp and circumstance.