‘American Idol’ Alumnus Caleb Kennedy Pleads Guilty, Gets 8 Years in Prison After Fatal DUI Crash

Country singer Caleb Kennedy, who participated American Idol Season 19 was sentenced to eight years in prison after his involvement in a 2022 car crash that left a man dead in Pacolet, South Carolina.

Kennedy pleaded guilty last week to a charge of driving under the influence causing death, the newspaper said Greenville News. He was initially sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $25,100 fine, but had that sentence and fine reduced to eight years and $15,100, of which he served three years in home confinement. He was also recognized for the nearly three years he has already served.

In addition, the singer will be on probation for five years and must attend mental health and substance abuse counseling.

The legal update comes nearly three years after Kennedy, then 17, struck and killed 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris on Feb. 8, 2022, while driving his Ford F-150. Courts alleged that Kennedy was under the influence of marijuana at the time. , and he was arrested on the DUI charge the day of the crash.

Ryan Beasley, Kennedy’s lawyer, told the newspaper News that the sentencing was fair. “He has no criminal record and he was a minor when this happened,” Beasley said. “This wasn’t one of those blatant acts that you usually see where people were drinking and then hit someone at night or drove the wrong way. This was a strange reaction from his prescribed medication and possibly THC.”

Beasley also said Kennedy is “deeply remorseful” and that the conviction “starts the healing process for everyone involved in this situation.” (The News notes that Parris’ family wanted the maximum prison sentence of 25 years.)

Kennedy reached the Top 7 of American Idol Season 19, but withdrew from the competition after a video surfaced of him standing next to a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan-style hood. “I was younger and didn’t think about the actions, but that is no excuse,” Kennedy said in part on social media at the time. “I want to say I’m sorry to all my fans and everyone I’ve let down.”