R. Kelly is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his convictions for possession of child pornography and enticing minors to have sex — claiming his alleged acts occurred decades ago and therefore the charges were barred by the statute of limitations.
Here’s the thing… when R. Kelly was charged in 2020 with possession of child pornography and engaging in sexual acts with underage girls in the mid- to late-1990s, he argued that the statute of limitations had already run out.
But prosecutors argued that a 2003 law — called the PROTECT Act — made the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children indefinite.
Basically, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjeanargues that because the conduct for which Kelly is serving time occurred in the 1990s, but the PROTECT Act was only passed in 2003, the Act’s extended statute of limitations does not apply to the charges against him.
The PROTECT Act extends the statute of limitations indefinitely for alleged crimes committed AFTER the law took effect in 2003, but Congress specifically did not include a provision allowing the law to apply to alleged conduct committed BEFORE 2003.
You may recall that Kelly was convicted on six of the 13 charges in 2020 — three on child pornography charges and three on inducement charges.
![R. Kelly asks US Supreme Court to overturn sex convictions 1 6e34cf4daafd4457ab98363d4fe2dda6 md](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/6e34cf4daafd4457ab98363d4fe2dda6_md.png)
AUGUST 2023
TMZ.com
He received a 20-year sentence and was ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to his alleged victims.
The Supreme Court will decide in the coming months whether to hear Kelly’s appeal.