‘American Idol’ alum Caleb Kennedy gets 8 years in deadly DUI

Controversial “American Idol” alum Caleb Kennedy has been handed a reduced but astir decade-long condemnation for a 2022 deadly DUI crash erstwhile helium was 17.

The South Carolina state vocalist pleaded blameworthy this week to felony driving nether the power resulting successful the death. Kennedy was initially handed the maximum 25-year situation sentence, earlier it was yet lowered to 8 years, according to Greenville News.

He’ll service 5 years down bars and 3 connected location detention, wage a $15,100 fine, and beryllium connected 5 years of probation post-release.

At the clip of the accident, Kennedy, present 20, was nether the power of Prozac and marijuana, having taken drags from a vape pen earlier driving to his girlfriend’s location successful South Carolina’s Spartanburg County. He was down the instrumentality of his 2011 Ford F-150 erstwhile helium careened into a backstage driveway and crashed into a workshop extracurricular Pacolet.

That store belonged to 54-year-old Larry Parris, who was connected a telephone telephone extracurricular erstwhile helium was deed by Kennedy’s motortruck and pushed into the building.

Parris was transported to a infirmary successful captious condition, lone to beryllium pronounced dormant hours later.

Lawyer Ryan Beasley, who represented Kennedy, justified his client’s reduced sentence.

“He’s got nary record, and helium was a insignificant erstwhile this happened,” Beasley told Greenville News, dismissing the DUI arsenic not arsenic “egregious” arsenic galore others involving hard drugs and alcohol.

“This was a weird absorption from his medicine medicine and perchance THC,” Beasley said.

Kennedy was polarizing agelong earlier helium killed Parris, having exited the 19th play of “American Idol” successful 2021 aft an aged video surfaced of him sitting beside idiosyncratic wearing what looked similar a Ku Klux Klan hood.

His parent said astatine the clip it was taken erstwhile helium was 12 years aged aft watching the movie “The Strangers: Prey astatine Night.” She told the Herald-Journal that helium and the different idiosyncratic successful the clip were lone “imitating” the characters successful the movie and that it wasn’t meant to symbolize immoderate racism.

The apical 5 contender aboriginal apologized for the video, saying helium “was younger and did not deliberation astir the actions, but that’s not an excuse.”

Originally Published: November 22, 2024 astatine 5:15 PM EST