WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court refused to hear on Monday the appeal of singer R. Kelly, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of child sex crimes in Chicago.
The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted in 2022 of three counts of producing images of child sexual abuse and three counts of enticing minors for sex.
His lawyers argued that the shorter statute of limitations on prosecutions for child sex crimes should have applied to crimes dating back to the 1990s. Current law allows charges to be brought while the accused is still alive.
The judges did not explain the reasons for their refusal to hear the case, as is usual. No one objected publicly. Lower courts have previously rejected his arguments.
Federal prosecutors said the video showed Kelly assaulting a girl. The defendant, identified only as Jane, testified that she was 14 years old when the video was taken.
Kelly also appealed a separate 30-year prison sentence for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions in New York.
