Caleb Kennedy who found stardom on “American Idol,” but left the show after controversy, will be spending the next several years behind bars after pleading guilty to a deadly DUI crash.
The crash killed a man from South Carolina three years ago, but the now-20-year-old entered the plea deal on Nov. 18, Entertainment Weekly reported.
He made the deal before going on trial, officials with the Spartanburg County, S.C. 7th Circuit Solicitor’s office said.
The initial sentence was 25 years in prison and a $25,100 fine but the sentence was reduced to eight years, with three of them served on home detention, a $15,100 fine and five years’ probation. He will also have to undergo random drug testing and mental health counseling. He received credit for the nearly three years he has already served, the Greenville News reported.
Officials said Kennedy was on his way to his girlfriend’s home when he drove his Ford pickup into a garage, hitting Duane Parris. Parris was pronounced dead at a hospital a few hours later. Kennedy, according to officials, had smoked marijuana via a vape pen as he was driving, the Greenville News reported. Kennedy was 17 at the time of the crash on Feb. 8, 2022, and was arrested for DUI.
His attorney, who called the sentence fair despite Parris’ family wanting the 25-year maximum, said that his client had no record and was a minor when the crash occurred.
“This wasn’t such an egregious act that you see most of the time, where people were drinking and driving then they hit somebody at night or going the wrong way down the road. This was a weird reaction from his prescription medicine and possibly THC,” defense attorney Ryan Beasley said, according to the newspaper.
The toxicology report after the crash showed Kennedy had THC and Prozac in his system, Billboard reported. Prozac had been prescribed. Prosecutors said the singer told law enforcement that he had taken “a deep draw” from the vape and was feeling the effects as he was driving.
Kennedy appeared on the 19th season of “American Idol” and made it to the final five, but withdrew when a video resurfaced showing him sitting next to someone who appeared to be wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, according to Billboard. At the time Kennedy said, “There was a video that surfaced on the internet and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way. I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that’s not an excuse.”
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