R. Kelly Plays Statute Of Limitations Card With Supreme Court For Child Sex Crimes

R. Kelly may be behind bars, but that isn't stopping him from fighting for his freedom.

The disgraced singer, currently serving a 31-year combined sentence, is attempting to appeal his sexual abuse convictions. He wants the court to dismiss his crimes because they occurred decades ago.

R. Kelly is pushing the statute of limitations plea for multiple child sex convictions that allegedly occurred from the mid to late-1990s.

According to new reports, Kelly requested that his convictions for possession of child pornography and inducing minors to have sex be dismissed. His attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that he was serving time for crimes that occurred in the 90s.

Bonjean refuted prosecutors' arguments that "The Storm Is Over Now" singer should be punished based on the PROTECT Act passed in 2003. This law made the statute of limitations indefinite for child sex crimes, but Kelly's lawyer found a loophole.

The attorney pointed out that the PROTECT Act affected the statute of limitations indefinitely for crimes committed after the law was passed in 2003. In Kelly's case, his alleged crimes occurred in the 90s, but the law did not have a clause for punishing crimes before 2003.

Armed with their statute of limitations plea, TMZ reported that Kelly and his attorney were pushing to dismiss his convictions. However, the Supreme Court would decide in the next few months whether to hear their appeal.

Kelly was found guilty of found guilty of federal child pornography and other child sex-related charges in 2022, with The Blast reporting that jurors took 11 hours before passing the verdict.

They found him guilty of six out of thirteen charges, three for child pornography and three for inducement counts. The statutory minimum sentence for each of the child porn charges was five to ten years in Chicago, sealing Kelly's fate behind bars.

The severity of his sentence would have worsened with a guilty verdict in the conspiracy allegations linked to a 2008 trial where he was acquitted of all charges relating to child pornography. However, the jury decided he was innocent.

During his infamous trial, which started mid-August 2022, gut-wrenching videos captured Kelly sexually abusing his then 14-year-old goddaughter. Referred to as "Jane" in court documents, the grown victim shared her story on the stand.

According to her, Kelly had intercourse with her "innumerable times," occasionally with the other underage females whom he had urged her to find for his pleasure. Other women echoed similar tales of horror from their youths.

A former Chicago police investigator, who discovered the infamous video in the early 2000s, also testified. He claimed Kelly's Chicago house matched the home in the child pornography footage.

Kelly's guilty verdict for child pornography and other sex crimes increased the time he had to spend behind bars. Before the Chicago case outcome, he faced a 30-year jail term for a separate federal case in Brooklyn.

The disgraced singer was accused of heading a criminal organization that engaged in bribery, abduction, and forced labor. This led to his guilty conviction on one count of racketeering.

Kelly was also found guilty of eight counts of sex trafficking law violations under the Mann Act. His Brooklyn and Chicago cases had many parallels, including witnesses’ testimonies that he had recruited underage girls for sexual activities.

Kelly's legal troubles continued in August 2023 when The Blast shared that U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly ordered him to compensate his victims with thousands of dollars.

The restitution fee of $506,950.26 conveniently came out of Kelly's Universal Music Group royalties of $567,444.19. Judge Donnelly also ordered him to use nearly $28,000 from his prison inmate account to pay his outstanding fines.

Kelly was sentenced to 20 years for child sex crimes in addition to 30 years for his conspiracy and enticement charges. Although prosecutors wanted him to spend more time behind bars, he was allowed to serve a combined sentence of 31 years.

R. Kelly's recent appeal to dismiss his child pornography and underage sex crimes shows his determination to fight his years-long sentence.