R. Kelly Demands Supreme Court Review of Decades-Old Charges Amid 20-Year Sentence

R. Kelly's lawyer is making the case that a law passed in the early 2000s cannot be used to prosecute his client's alleged acts in the '90s as they seek to reverse his sex crime convictions.

TMZ reported that attorney Jennifer Bonjean put forth an argument that her client's alleged child sex crimes, which occurred in the mid to late-1990s, should not be governed by the PROTECT Act because it was introduced in 2003.

The PROTECT Act, signed by President George W. Bush in April 2003, eliminated statutes of limitations for child abduction and abuse cases.

Kelly was found guilty in Chicago in 2022 of possession of child pornography and the enticement of minors for sex and received a 20-year sentence in February 2023.

The singer is serving all but one of the 20 years simultaneously with a previous sentence.

Kelly was also found guilty in New York in 2021 of racketeering and sex trafficking. Subsequently, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Bonjean raised concerns about the RICO strategy employed in the New York case conviction earlier this year. She contended that labeling organizations involved in racketeering based on this approach might establish a troubling precedent of unfair characterization

According to a report by Billboard in February, the legal representative made the case that even establishments like fraternity houses could fall under the classification of "RICO enterprises" as per the law. This perspective expanded the range of organizations that might be subject to legal consequences.

Bonjean and her team have submitted a request to the Supreme Court to invalidate the convictions under scrutiny.

The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on whether Kelly's appeal will be reviewed in the next few months.

Rumors started spreading in the '90s about Kelly's mistreatment of young girls. Legal trouble ensued when a woman filed a lawsuit in 1997 accusing him of sexual misconduct and harassment when she was a minor.

Subsequently, he found himself facing criminal charges related to child pornography involving another girl.

The singer was acquitted by a Chicago jury in 2008, and Kelly settled the lawsuit out of court.

Information about the relationship between him and R&B artist Aaliyah has gradually emerged, suggesting that they exchanged vows while dressed in identical tracksuits, using a fraudulent marriage license that misrepresented the late singer's age as 18 instead of 15 at the time.

The public outcry surrounding Kelly's inappropriate behavior toward young women and children was amplified by the documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly," which shed light on the victims who questioned if their accounts were disregarded due to their race and gender.

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