Disgraced rapper R.Kelly is calling on the United States Supreme Court to overturn his 2022 conviction for child pornography and sex with minors.
Kelly, 57, claims the charges he was convicted of date back decades and are statute-barred, according to a report published by TMZ on Tuesday, July 30. (The 2003 PROTECT Act ensures that sex crimes against children are not statute-barred.)
The musician was first accused of child pornography in the early 2000s, but was acquitted of all charges in 2008. Years later, allegations of sexual misconduct came to light again following the 2019 documentary. Survivor R. Kelly was released. In 2021, Kelly was found guilty of sexual abuse and sex trafficking and subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The following year, Kelly was again found guilty, this time on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct. In February 2023, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 19 of which will be served concurrently with his previous sentence.
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After his guilty verdict in 2022, Kelly’s lawyer said: Jennifer Bonjeanremained positive, saying they had “won more counts than they lost” and praising the jury for their work.
In his request to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the conviction, Bonjean argued, according to TMZ, that Kelly’s previous convictions did not meet the criteria of the PROTECT Act because the crimes she was accused of took place in the 1990s.
We weekly has asked Kelly’s team for comment.
Kelly’s relatives have spoken out publicly over the years and described in detail the alleged abuse they suffered at the hands of the musician.
“He is not a good person” Asante McGeethe in Survival of R. Kellytold Us in an interview in 2019. “I always said that (he) is the devil.”
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Kitty Jonesanother victim, said Us At the time, she hoped Kelly would be “held accountable in court for breaking the law.”
She continued, “He’s abused people, he’s hurt people and there are things on tape that you can’t deny. I don’t think he’ll ever own up to what he’s done, but this will certainly help. And get some therapy.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know is a victim of child abuse, call or text the Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
