Nation singer Caleb Kennedy, who competed in American Idol Season 19, has been sentenced to eight years in jail following his involvement in a 2022 automotive crash that killed a person in Pacolet, South Carolina.
Kennedy pled responsible final week to the felony cost of driving beneath the affect leading to loss of life, in response to the Greenville Information. He was initially sentenced to 25 years in jail and a $25,100 nice, however he had that sentence and nice decreased to eight years and $15,100, with three of these years served in residence detention. He additionally acquired credit score for the practically three years he has already served.
Moreover, the singer will serve 5 years of probation, and he’s required to attend psychological well being and substance abuse counseling.
The authorized replace comes practically three years after Kennedy, then 17, struck and killed 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris whereas driving his Ford F-150 on February 8, 2022. Warrants alleged that Kennedy was beneath the affect of marijuana on the time, and he was arrested on the DUI cost on the day of the crash.
Ryan Beasley, Kennedy’s legal professional, instructed the Information that the sentencing was honest. “He’s obtained no report, and he was a minor when this occurred,” Beasley stated. “This wasn’t such an egregious act that you just see more often than not, the place individuals have been ingesting and driving then they hit any person at night time or going the incorrect manner down the street. This was a bizarre response from his prescription drugs and presumably THC.”
Beasley additionally stated that Kennedy is “very remorseful” and that the sentencing “begins the therapeutic course of for everyone concerned on this state of affairs.” (The Information notes that Parris’ household needed the utmost 25-year sentence.)
Kennedy made it to the Prime 7 of American Idol Season 19 however withdrew from the competitors after a video of him standing subsequent to an individual sporting a Ku Klux Klan-style hood resurfaced. “I used to be youthful and didn’t take into consideration the actions, however that’s not an excuse,” Kennedy stated, partially, on social media on the time. “I wanna say I’m sorry to all my followers and everybody who I’ve let down.”