R. Kelly's Lawyer Attempting to Get Supreme Court to Throw Out Convictions for His 20-Year Prison Sentence

The singer's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argues he was convicted for crimes that fall outside of the statute of limitations window

R. Kelly’s attorney is requesting the United States Supreme Court throw out his convictions for possession of child porn and inducing minors to have sex.

The 57-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced in Chicago to 20 years in prison in February 2023 on charges of child pornography and enticement of minors for sex. The year prior, in June 2022, he was convicted to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking charges based out of New York. However, 19 years of the two sentences will be served concurrently, and he is expected to be released in 2045.

On Thursday, July 25, his attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, claimed in a petition obtained by PEOPLE that Kelly’s alleged acts occurred decades earlier and that the charges last year are purportedly barred by the statute of limitations.

In 2020, Kelly was first accused of possessing child pornography and engaging in sexual acts with underage girls dating back to the mid to late-1990s. His team argued that the statute of limitations window closed.

Related: Chicago Prosecutor to Drop Sex Abuse Charges Against R. Kelly, Citing Long Federal Sentence

However, prosecutors disputed that argument, citing the PROTECT ACT — a 2003 law that declared the statute of limitations is indefinite for sex crimes against children.

But in Bonjean’s petition, she argues that although Kelly is serving time for his crimes from the 1990s, the statute of limitations doesn't apply to him because the PROTECT ACT was passed in the early aughts. She wrote that Congress did not explicitly include a clause that this law would also apply to crimes that occurred before 2003.

“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,” read the petition.

Although Kelly’s team has petitioned the appeal, the Supreme Court does not have to hear Kelly’s case.

Related: R. Kelly Sues Prison After Being Placed on Suicide Watch for 'Purely Punitive Reasons': Lawyer

The recent appeal also follows his ongoing appeal of the New York 2021 sentencing. The first appeal argues that Kelly was unfairly charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for leading a group of people who recruited women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity and create child pornography, per the Associated Press.

“This was not a collection of people who had a purpose to recruit girls for sexual abuse or child pornography,” Bonjean said, per the Associated Press. “Whether they turned a blind eye, whether some of them suspected that some of these girls were underage, that’s a whole different matter.”

“And once we get into that sort of territory, where we’re going to say that constitutes a RICO enterprise, well we have a lot of organizations — we have a lot of frat houses — we have all types of organizations that are now going to become RICO enterprises,” she added.

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