American Idol alum Caleb Kennedy has been sentenced to eight years in prison for killing a man in a DUI crash.
The singer, 20, pleaded guilty Nov. 18 to a felony driving under the influence charge resulting in the death of Larry Duane Parris, 54, in South Carolina in 2022. Kennedy was initially sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay a $25,100 fine and his sentence was ultimately lowered to eight years and a $15,100 fine, according to court records obtained by E! News.
Kennedy is set to serve three years of his sentence on home detention and received credit for the time he has served since his 2022 arrest. He is to also be put on probation for five years, attend mental health and substance abuse counseling and undergo random drug and alcohol testing, the records show.
On Nov. 22, Kennedy's legal team said in a statement to E! News that he "again wants to express his heartfelt sympathies to the Parris family," adding, "Caleb fully accepts his responsibility for this accident and hopes for healing for everyone affected by this tragedy.”
Kennedy's attorney Ryan Beasley said the sentence, also handed down Nov. 18, was fair.
"He's got no record," the lawyer told Greenville News, "and he was a minor when this happened."
Beasley continued, "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."
Spartanburg County prosecutor Barry J. Barnette, said the case "shows the dangers of vape pens to society," according to a statement from the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office shared with E! News.
In February 2022, Kennedy was driving his 2011 Ford pickup in South Carolina when he drove into the driveway of Parris' home and killed him, and an investigation later showed that Kennedy was under the influence of marijuana, according to a South Carolina Highway Patrol arrest report posted by the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
At the time, the outlet Barnette as saying that Kennedy had taken "a deep hit" from a vape pen while meeting a friend, then drove his vehicle down a few roads into Parris' driveway, where the victim was talking on a phone.
"I see my daddy laying in his own shop, moaning and groaning, with a stranger not even calling 911," Parris' daughter, Kelsey Parris, told the judge at a court hearing that month, per The State. "He killed my dad, point blank. I wish I could pay a little bit of money or a lot of money to have my daddy back."
Kennedy competed on season 19 of American Idol in 2021. He made the top five but left the show after a video surfaced online that allegedly showed him next to someone in a white hood reminiscent of those worn by the Ku Klux Klan. (E! News has not verified the authenticity of the video.)
"Hey y'all, this is gonna be a bit of a surprise, but I am no longer gonna be on American Idol," Kennedy later shared in a statement on Instagram. "There was a video that surfaced on the internet and it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way."
He explained, "I was younger and did not think about the actions, but that's not an excuse. I wanna say sorry to all my fans and everyone who I have let down."