Jennifer Bonjean—the disgraced singer’s attorney—has requested the United States Supreme Court to throw out his federal sex crime convictions, which include possession of child pornography and inducing minors to have sex.
R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced in Chicago to 20 years in prison in February 2023 on charges of producing child pornography and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity. The year prior, in June 2022, the 57-year-old was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking charges based out of New York. However, 19 years of the two sentences will be served concurrently, and he is expected to be released in 2045.
But on Thursday, July 25, his attorney claimed in a petition that Kelly’s alleged acts related to his conduct in the 1990s and early 2000s, and that the charges from last year are purportedly barred by the statute of limitations.
Prior to 2003, the statute of limitations barred prosecutions after the victim’s 25th birthday. But the law was amended that year to allow prosecutions through the life of the victim.
In 2020, Kelly was first accused of possessing child pornography and engaging in sexual acts with underage girls dating back to the mid to late-1990s. The victims hadn’t turned 25 by then, but they had by the time Kelly was charged.
Prosecutors disputed her argument, citing the PROTECT Act—a 2003 law that declared the statute of limitations is indefinite for sex crimes against children.
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In Bonjean’s petition, she argued that although Kelly is serving time for his crimes from the 1990s, the statute of limitations doesn’t apply to him because the PROTECT Act was passed in the early 2000s. She wrote that Congress did not explicitly include a clause that this law would also apply to crimes that occurred before 2003.
“Because Congress did not expressly state that the PROTECT Act should apply retroactively and even rejected a version of the bill that included a retroactive provision, the PROTECT Act did not extend the statute of limitations, and Defendant was convicted of time-barred offenses,” read the petition.
That timing is crucial, according to the federal appeals court that rejected Kelly’s claim, leading to his Supreme Court appeal. “As a threshold matter, it is not unconstitutional to apply a newer statute of limitations to old conduct when the defendant was subject to prosecution at the time of the change, as Kelly was in 2003,” the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in April.
The recent appeal also follows his ongoing appeal of the New York 2021 sentencing. The first appeal argued that Kelly was unfairly charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for leading a group of people who recruited women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity and create child pornography, per the Associated Press.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, it’s not your fault. You are not alone. Help is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit the Online Hotline.
And if you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.