How long has R. Kelly been in jail? Ex-record producer's team tries to get his criminal convictions revoked over statute of limitations

In 2022, former singer R. Kelly received a sentence of 20 years behind bars. In April 2024, the decision was further upheld by The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. TMZ obtained a report on Tuesday, July 30, in which Kelly requested the US Supreme Court to dismiss the convictions for child p*rn and inducing minors to have s*x, since they allegedly happened a long time ago.

Trigger warning: The article contains references to child p*rnography. Readers' discretion is advised.

In the documents, R. Kelly's attorneys had claimed that "charges should be barred by the statute of limitations." Jennifer Bonjean, his attorney argued that under the PROTECT Act 2003's launch date, Kelly's alleged actions that happened in the late-1990s shouldn't be considered. TMZ reported that the Supreme Court would come up with a decision, in a few months.

For the unversed, R. Kelly was convicted of three counts of producing child p*rnography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in s*xual activity. In 2023 his sentence was extended to 31 years in prison. He has been in jail since February 2023.

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R. Kelly had been serving a combined sentence of 31 years as of now

Before the 2022 convictions, the former singer had found himself in the middle of several lawsuits, which ended with his conviction. In 2021, he was found guilty of violating the Mann Act and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Then in 2022, he was found guilty of producing child p*rnography. As a result, in February 2023, he received a combined sentence of more than three decades in prison.

In March 2024, Jennifer Bonjean tried to either get the specific charges removed or win him a completely new trial. Bonjean said that it was unfair of the prosecutors to charge Kelly for allegedly operating a RICO organization. Bonjean told an appeals court:

"This was not a collection of people who had a purpose to recruit girls for s*xual abuse or child p*rnography. Whether they turned a blind eye, whether some of them suspected that some of these girls were underage, that’s a whole different matter."

The attorney further defended the Grammy winner and said,

"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."

Associated Press reported in an article published in March 2024, that according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Bensing, several employees working under Kelly helped him run the "illegal operation." The outlet further claimed that several women had testimonies during the trial claiming that they had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before joining his company. They were also threatened in a number of situations.

Circuit Judge Denny Chin further asked if there was proof to confirm that the employees were unaware of the fact that the girls were minors when they were preparing for these events. Bensing added:

"Members of the enterprise heard Kelly beat his girlfriends, they knew that Kelly was isolating his victims and they helped him do it, including by enforcing his punishments."

Even before the federal cases hit R. Kelly's life, he had constantly been involved in some trouble with law enforcement. In 1997, he was charged with battery and convicted as well. A year later, in 1998, he was detained by the police on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct. Then in 2019, he was arrested again after he failed to pay child support to his former wife.

In 2002, R. Kelly was arrested for child p*rnography charges, which also went to trial. In 2008, about six years after the arrest, he was acquitted of all the charges against him. The investigation began again after the release of the 2019 documentary, Surviving R. Kelly.