‘American Idol’ Finalist Writing New Songs Before Going to Prison: Report

“American Idol” star Caleb Kennedy is working on “new tracks” before he goes to prison, according to TMZ.

TMZ reported that Kennedy’s lawyer says he is “hopeful the 20-year-old will still be able to pursue a career in music when he gets out” from prison, where he will serve an eight-year sentence.

Attorney Ryan Beasley told TMZ that Kennedy has “been writing songs over the last few years.” The attorney also told TMZ that “faith and family are the main ways Caleb will cope with his upcoming incarceration … adding he’ll lean on God heavily in the coming years.”

Kennedy was a season 19 finalist on “American Idol.” However, his time on the show was controversial.

According to WSPA, Kennedy “appeared on season 19 of American Idol but withdrew from the competition in May 2021 after a video circulated of him sitting next to someone wearing what appeared to be a Ku Klux Klan hood.”

Caleb Kennedy Will Have to Serve 5 Years of the Sentence Behind Bars, Reports Say

According to Fox News, Kennedy received the eight-year prison sentence for a “fatal 2022 DUI crash.”

His sentencing came in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he “pleaded guilty to a felony charge of driving under the influence where death results,” Fox News reported.

Three of the eight years will be served at home, according to Fox News, but he will have to serve five years of it in a South Carolina correctional institute, the site reported.

According to Fox Carolina, “He will be required to pay a $15,100 fine, receive mental health counseling, and undergo substance abuse counseling.” Kennedy pleaded guilty right before he was scheduled to go to trial, the television station reported.

Caleb Kennedy Was Accused of Striking a Garage Where a Man Was Working

The prosecutor Barry J. Barnette told Fox News Digital, “This case shows the dangers of vape pens to society.”Fox News reported that the prosecutor “concluded the use of vape pens led to the death of Larry Parris, 54, the man killed in Kennedy’s crash.”
According to the New York Post, the crash occurred when Kennedy was 17.

Kennedy’s Ford pickup truck “traveled 175 yards off the road and struck a Spartanburg garage in which Larry Duane Parris was working,” The Post reported.

“He’s got no record, and he was a minor when this happened,” Beasley told the Greenville News. “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.”

Pacolet Fire District Chief Heath Brown told WSPA that the crash was unusual.

“Mostly just the area that it’s in, it’s off the road, like it is. Because this right here, as you can see, is more like a personal driveway, than it is a road,” he said to the station at the time.

“We don’t have many responses in this area. I’ve been in this business 20 years and this is one of the most unique instances I’ve ever been on with a car versus a building,” said Chief Brown to WSPA.

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