R. Kelly is pursuing a legal loophole in an attempt to overturn his sex crime convictions.
According to TMZ, the disgraced R&B singer has filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the alleged offenses occurred decades ago and thus fall outside the statute of limitations.
Kelly’s convictions stem from crimes dating back to the mid-1990s. His legal team contends that the PROTECT Act, under which he was charged, does not apply to his case since it was enacted in 2003. Despite prosecutors successfully arguing that the act’s statute of limitations is indefinite, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, asserts that the law cannot be applied retroactively to actions that took place before its passage.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide in the coming months whether to hear Kelly’s appeal.
In 2022, a grand jury found Kelly guilty on six of the 13 federal charges he faced, including three counts of child pornography related to the sexual abuse of four girls, three of whom were minors. He was also convicted of producing videos of himself sexually assaulting his 14-year-old goddaughter, leading to additional charges.
Kelly received a 20-year prison sentence from a Chicago judge, which he will serve concurrently with a 30-year sentence he is currently serving in New York for racketeering.
Recent Legal Actions
In a separate legal matter, Kelly recently filed a lawsuit against the federal government to reclaim commissary funds that were allegedly seized to satisfy a judgment against him. Last year, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Heather Williams, one of Kelly’s sexual abuse accusers, could access his label fund, which was reportedly valued at $1.5 million in 2020, prior to a separate $3.5 million judgment against him for unpaid rent on a Chicago studio.
Months later, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly ordered Kelly and his label, Universal Music Group, to surrender over $500,000 in royalties, following an earlier demand for $28,000 from his prison account.
