R. Kelly is appealing his federal sex crimes convictions to the Supreme Court, pressing a statute of limitations argument that an appeals court flatly rejected.
The disgraced singer’s appeal stems from his conviction in Chicago for producing child pornography and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity, for which he was sentenced to 20 years. (In another case in New York that’s under a separate pending appeal, he was sentenced to 30 years, though 19 years of the two sentences are set to be served concurrently.) The 57-year-old, named Robert Sylvester Kelly, is currently slated to be released from prison in 2045.
In his petition to the justices, Kelly’s lawyers argue that he was wrongly prosecuted retroactively under a federal law that they argue bars charges related to his conduct in the 1990s and early 2000s. Prior to 2003, the statute of limitations barred prosecutions after the victim’s 25th birthday. But the law was amended that year to allow prosecutions through the life of the victim. The victims hadn’t turned 25 by then, but they had by the time that Kelly was charged.
That timing is crucial, according to the federal appeals court that rejected Kelly’s claim, leading to his Supreme Court appeal. “As a threshold matter, it is not unconstitutional to apply a newer statute of limitations to old conduct when the defendant was subject to prosecution at the time of the change, as Kelly was in 2003,” the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in April.
It takes four justices to grant review of a petition, and the court only takes a small fraction each year of the thousands of appeals it receives. Before the court considers whether to take Kelly’s case, the Justice Department has a chance to oppose his petition in writing, with its response currently due Aug. 28.
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