R. Kelly Petitions The Supreme Court To Overturn His Sex Crimes Conviction
R. Kelly and his legal team are urging the Supreme Court to overturn his federal sex abuse conviction. He filed a petition this week claiming that the sex crimes involving minors — that he was found guilty of — fall outside of the statute of limitations.
Per Rolling Stone, the argument brought up by the dethroned singer‘s attorneys focuses on the 2003 PROTECT Act that extended the federal statute of limitations for cases such as this. Kelly was convicted of creating child pornography and enticing minors into illegal sexual activity, all of which occurred before the law was passed. Due to the crimes dating back to the ’90s, he believes the statute of limitations would have expired.
“Defendant’s charges were time barred,” the petition reads. “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.”
It continued, arguing, “Defendant was not charged until more than a decade after the expiration of the statute of limitations under the applicable law at the time of the alleged conduct.”
In September 2022, Kelly was found guilty on six counts of federal child pornography charges in Chicago. The verdict centered around key witness, “Jane Doe,” who testified that she had sexual encounters at age 14 that were also filmed by the singer. Those tapes were also the focal point of Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial.
The newly-filed court petition argues that the state the limitations period extended only through September 2009, when “Jane” turned 25 years old.
This petition isn’t the first time Kelly’s attorneys have tried to get a conviction overturned or requested a new trial. In February 2023, a Chicago judge denied their request regarding federal charges in Chicago.
At the time, he was already serving 30 years in prison following his federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial in New York. Kelly was later sentenced to 20 years on the child pornography charges.
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