R. Kelly’s attorney is pointing to the year the PROTECT Act became law as part of a larger effort to have the disgraced singer’s sex crime convictions tossed.
Per a report from TMZ on Tuesday, attorney Jennifer Bonjean has argued that the PROTECT Act’s 2003 launch date means that her client’s actions in the previous decade shouldn’t fall under its purview. The PROTECT Act took away statutes of limitations for abduction and abuse cases involving children, with then-president George W. Bush signing it into law in April of that year.
Kelly, who's currently behind bars, was convicted of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity in September 2022. A subsequent 20-year sentence, initially reached in February of last year, was recently upheld. The case was preceded by Kelly's 2021 conviction in New York on racketeering-related counts including sexual exploitation of children and forced labor. Following that conviction, Kelly received a sentence of 30 years.
In March of this year, Bonjean formally took issue with the RICO approach of the New York case conviction, arguing that its use in the case could set a precedent under which organizations could be unfairly characterized as being engaged in racketeering. At the time, per the Associated Press, Bonjean argued that "all types of organizations," including, for example, frat houses, could now be viewed as "RICO enterprises" in the eyes of the law.
As for Kelly's latest push, Tuesday's report notes that Bonjean and company are asking the Supreme Court to throw out the convictions in question.