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Accused in 2020 of possessing youngster pornography and inducing underage ladies to have interaction in sexual acts within the mid to late 1990s, R. Kelly is now asking the US Supreme Court docket to overturn his conviction. The disgraced singer is reportedly arguing that his alleged misconduct occurred many years in the past and his costs had been the statute of limitations that had run its course.
Conversely, prosecutors counter-attacked with the claims that the 2003 regulation – the PROTECT Act – rendered the statute of limitations indefinite for youngster intercourse crimes. In 2023, a Chicago federal appeals court docket sentenced the singer to 20 years in jail on youngster sexual abuse convictions, with one yr to run consecutive to the 30-year sentence beforehand imposed within the Jap District of New York for intercourse trafficking and racketeering.
In accordance with a Tuesday TMZ report, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, is once more on the identical observe, arguing that the PROTECT Act’s huge statute of limitations would not apply within the case in opposition to him because the Act wasn’t handed till 2003 whereas the conduct for which he’s serving now occurred within the ’90s.
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In regards to the PROTECT Act of 2003
The Division of Justice’s official reality sheet celebrates the Act “as a historic milestone for our nation’s youngsters” because it “comprehensively strengthens regulation enforcement’s skill to stop, examine, prosecute and punish violent crimes dedicated in opposition to youngsters.” After it went into impact in 2003, it prolonged the statute of limitations indefinitely for alleged crimes.
R. Kelly’s convictions and sentence
Born Robert Sylvester Kelly, the R&B singer was initially convicted in 2022 on three costs of manufacturing youngster pornography and three counts of enticement of minors for intercourse. The four-week trial in Chicago revealed that Kelly had induced a number of minor ladies to have interaction in sexual exercise. As he abused his victims for years after assembly them within the late 1990s, he even recorded a number of the abuse on videotape at occasions. Kelly reportedly additionally took measures to cowl his abuse and silence the alleged victims.
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He ultimately appealed the conviction, stating Illinois’ shorter statute of limitations ought to have utilized to his case. Nevertheless, the appeals court docket rejected his argument, labelling it an try by the singer to keep away from the fees after “using a posh scheme to maintain victims quiet.
Approach again in 2020, Kelly was convicted of six of 13 counts – three for youngster pornography and the remaining three for inducement counts. Alongside along with his 20-year sentence, he was ordered to pay 1000’s of {dollars} in damages to the alleged victims. His 2022 Chicago conviction centred round video proof reportedly displaying Kelly abusing a then-14-year-old lady, per her first-time testimony. On the time, she recognized solely as Jane.
