WASHINGTON, Oct 8 — The US Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear imprisoned former R&B star R. Kelly's appeal of his 2022 federal conviction on charges involving child pornography and luring underage girls to have sex with him, one of two cases in which he was found guilty of sex crimes.

The disgraced singer is currently serving 20 years in prison.

The justices turned away Kelly's challenge to a lower court's decision, upholding his conviction by a federal jury in Chicago, reported Reuters.

The Grammy-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2022 of three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.

His lawyers argued that a shorter statute of limitations on child sex crime prosecutions should have applied to offenses dating back to the 1990s. Current law permits charges while an accuser is still alive.

The justices did not detail their reasoning in declining to hear the case, as is typical. And none publicly dissented. Lower courts previously rejected his arguments.

Kelly has also appealed a separate 30-year sentence for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions in New York.

— Reuters