R Kelly pleads with Supreme Court to forget his 2023 kid $3 crime

R. Kelly has requested the Supreme Courtroom to vacate his 2023 youngster pornography conviction.

The musician, who was discovered responsible of varied intercourse crimes in opposition to kids, claimed the regulation used to cost him was improperly filed.

On Tuesday, July 30, Kelly’s attorneys filed an attraction with the excessive courtroom, arguing that the federal PROTECT Act, a 2003 regulation that permits prosecutors to carry costs in opposition to youngster intercourse abusers all through a baby’s lifetime, doesn’t apply to Kelly’s case as a result of The abuse occurred earlier than the invoice grew to become regulation.

In 2020, federal prosecutors in Chicago filed 13 costs in opposition to Kelly below the PROTECT Act, accusing him of committing crimes in opposition to three underage ladies within the Nineteen Nineties.

He was discovered responsible on six counts, together with producing youngster pornography and forcing a minor to interact in unlawful sexual exercise. Kelly is at present serving a 20-year sentence for the crime.

Kelly’s legal professional, Jennifer Bonjean, mentioned that when Congress drafted the 2003 regulation, they “didn’t categorical an intent” to use it retroactively.

“According to the established presumption in opposition to retroactive laws, the 2003 Modification doesn’t apply to the alleged conduct,” Bonjean wrote.

Now she’s asking the Supreme Courtroom to contemplate whether or not the regulation applies to Kelly.

A federal appeals courtroom in northern Illinois had already dominated in opposition to Kelly earlier this yr. A 3-judge panel for the Seventh Circuit mentioned the regulation was utilized accurately as a result of the three victims had been nonetheless alive and making use of the regulation retroactively was not unconstitutional.

This isn’t the primary time Kelly has requested a courtroom to overturn a number of of his youngster intercourse crime convictions.