A recently filed petition alleges that charges related to sex crimes involving minors fall outside the statute of limitations.
Legal representatives of A group of lawyers has filed a petition seeking to overturn the disgraced singer's federal sex assault conviction. The appeal, filed with the Supreme Court this week, alleges that the charges against him for sex crimes involving minors fall outside the statute of limitations.
Kelly’s lawyers’ argument centers on the 2003 Protection Act, which extended the federal statute of limitations for such cases. The petition for an injunction states that the conduct for which the singer was convicted — specifically, producing child pornography and enticing minors into unlawful sexual activity — occurred before the law was passed. The lawyers argue that the statute of limitations would have run out because the laws date back to the 1990s.
“The statute of limitations on the charges against the defendant had expired,” the petition states. “Because Congress did not expressly state that the protection statute should apply retroactively, and even rejected a version of the bill that included a retroactive provision, the protection statute did not extend the statute of limitations, and the defendant was convicted of crimes for which the statute of limitations had expired.”
In September 2022, Kelly was convicted of six counts of child sexual exploitation in Chicago. The defense’s appeals focused heavily on “Jane,” a key witness who testified that her sexual encounters with Kelly — which occurred when she was 14 — were filmed by the singer. Those same images were central to Kelly’s 2008 child sexual exploitation trial. Newly filed court documents state that the statute of limitations only extended to September 2009, when “Jane” turned 25.
“Defendant was not charged until more than a decade after the statute of limitations had expired under the law applicable at the time of the alleged conduct,” the petition states. In February 2023, a Chicago judge denied a motion by Kelly’s attorneys seeking either to vacate the conviction or a new trial on the federal charges in Chicago.
At the time of his conviction, Kelly was already serving 30 years in prison after being convicted on all charges in his federal trial in New York.
