Photo: E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Pool/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
R. Kelly is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his convictions for child pornography and enticement.
According to Billboard, R. Kelly claims that his case should fall under the statute of limitations. The outlet reports that R. Kelly’s attorney filed a petition on July 29 asking the high court to dismiss an April ruling that denied him relief from his 2022 convictions.
R. Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, told TMZ that the 2003 federal law extending the statute of limitations cannot apply retroactively to his alleged crimes from the 1990s. PEOPLE reports that Bonjean stated Congress did not explicitly include a clause making this law applicable to crimes committed before 2003.
“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,” read the petition.
For context, Kelly’s team claims that the statute of limitations window has closed. However, prosecutors dispute this, citing the PROTECT ACT — a 2003 law that established an indefinite period for sex crimes against children.
Per PEOPLE, although Kelly’s team petitioned for an appeal, the Supreme Court can choose not to hear his case.
However, Billboard notes that, like all appeals to the Supreme Court, R. Kelly’s case faces significant challenges. The high court receives thousands of petitions annually but only agrees to hear a small percentage.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that charging him with leading the RICO enterprise from 1994 to 2018 was unfair, as it involved individuals promoting his music and recruiting women and girls for illegal sexual activity.
“This was not a collection of people who had a purpose to recruit girls for sexual abuse or child pornography. Whether they turned a blind eye, whether some of them suspected that some of these girls were underage, that’s a whole different matter.”
Bonjean claimed that if R. faced charges for this matter, it would set a precedent for other organizations to be labeled as RICO enterprises.
“And once we get into that sort of territory, where we’re going to say that constitutes a RICO enterprise, well we have a lot of organizations — we have a lot of frat houses — we have all types of organizations that are now going to become RICO enterprises,” she added.
This week’s petition addresses just one of R. Kelly’s two felony abuse convictions. The other conviction, a September 2021 guilty verdict for racketeering charges from New York prosecutors, led to a 30-year prison sentence and is currently under appeal in a lower appellate court.
Yahoo reports that R. Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is currently serving a 30-year sentence in a federal prison.
Per CNN, the R&B musician’s sentence arises from a sex trafficking conviction in New York in September 2021.
In 2022, CNN revealed that R. received an additional 20-year sentence in federal prison following a second conviction in his hometown of Chicago. He faced multiple counts related to the production of child pornography and enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity. This new term was imposed while he was already serving his initial 30-year sentence.
