R. Kelly Files Appeal to Overturn Sex Crime Conviction
The legal team behind disgraced R&B artist R. Kelly has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court to overturn his federal child pornography conviction, citing that the sex crime falls outside of the statute of limitations.
In the petition, the defense points to the 2003 PROTECT Act, which eliminated the federal statute of limitations for child pornography. Kelly’s attorneys argue that the statue of limitations would have expired, since the convicted act took place in the 1990s, noting in court documents that the “defendant’s charges were time barred.”
“Because Congress did not expressly state that the PROTECT Act should apply retroactivity 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,” the court document reads.
In 2021, Kelly was found guilty on nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering, as well as three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity and three counts of producing sex tapes involving a minor. During a six-week trial, it was revealed that Kelly had lured young women — including fans and prospective singers — into controlled, manipulative, and sexually abusive environments. The following year, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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The child pornography charge was brought forth after evidence in the trial showed a video of Kelly allegedly raping his 14-year-old goddaughter “Jane.” In the recent petition, Kelly’s lawyers claim the statue of limitations period only extended to 2009 when “Jane” was 25-years-old, writing in the petition that the “Defendant was not charged until more than a decade after the expiration of the statue of limitations under the applicable law at the time of alleged conduct.”
Kelly’s sexual allegations date back to 1994 when he married a girl who turned out to be 15-years old. Throughout the years, he’s been accused of child pornography, “knowing and intentionally infecting” a woman with an STD, and domestic violence. Additionally, victims have spoken out about Kelly holding an alleged “sex cult” in his Atlanta home where he brainwashed both teenage girls and adult women.
However, the public opinion of Kelly did not begin to change until the rise of the #MuteRKelly movement, which shut down Kelly’s various concerts across the country, as well as the hard-hitting ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ docuseries via Lifetime, which dropped in 2019. The docuseries revealed more allegations against the singer with interviews from multiple survivors, sparking nationwide attention and a criminal investigation.
