R. Kelly Petitions Supreme Court to Overturn His Sex Abuse Conviction

Legal representatives for R. Kelly are petitioning to have the disgraced singer’s federal sex abuse conviction overturned. An appeal filed to the Supreme Court this week argues that the charges against him relating to sex crimes involving minors fall outside of the statute of limitations.

The argument set forth by Kelly’s attorneys centers on the the 2003 PROTECT Act, which extended the federal statute of limitations for such cases. The petition for writ of certiorari states that the conduct for which the singer is convicted — specifically creating child pornography and enticing minors into illegal sexual activity — occurred prior to the law being passed. Because the acts date back to the Nineties, lawyers argue, the statute of limitations would have expired.

“Defendant’s charges were time barred,” the petition reads. “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.”

In September 2022, Kelly was found guilty on six counts of federal child pornography charges in Chicago. The defense’s appeal centered largely on “Jane,” a key witness who testified that her sexual encounters with Kelly — which occurred when she was 14 years old — were filmed by the singer. Those same visuals were central in Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial for state charges. The newly-filed court documents state the limitations period extended only through September 2009, when “Jane” turned 25 years old.

The petition argues: “Defendant was not charged until more than a decade after the expiration of the statute of limitations under the applicable law at the time of the alleged conduct.” In February 2023, a Chicago judge denied a request from Kelly’s attorneys seeking either an overturn of the conviction or a new trial on the Chicago federal charges.

At the time of the relevant conviction, Kelly was already serving 30 years in prison after being found guilty of all counts in his federal racketeering trial in New York.