American IdolAlum Caleb Kennedy's 25-Year DUI Sentence Reduced to 8 After Killing South Carolina Father

Mar. 15, 2025

Caleb Kennedy’s mugshot.Photo:spartanburg sheriff’s department

spartanburg sheriff’s department

FormerAmerican IdolcontestantCaleb Kennedyhas been sentenced on a felony DUI charge, nearly three years after he struck and killed a South Carolina father.

Kennedy’s case was scheduled to go to trial, but he pleaded guilty on Monday, Nov. 18 to a felony driving under the influence charge resulting in death, a spokesperson for the 7th Circuit, Spartanburg County confirmed to PEOPLE.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $25,100, though his sentence was reduced to eight years in prison, and his fine to $15,100. Kennedy, 20, must also serve five years of probation and attend mental health and substance abuse counseling.

“This case shows the dangers of vape pens to society,” Solicitor Barry J. Barnette, who prosecuted Kennedy, said in a statement.

Kennedy’s attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The singer was 17 when his Ford pickup truck traveled 175 yards off the road and struck a garage in which 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris was working in Spartanburg, S.C. Parris was reportedly pronounced dead at the hospital three hours after the 12:30 p.m. crash.

Caleb Kennedy on ‘American Idol’; Larry Duane Parris.Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images; Obituary

FOX Carolinareported that Kennedy’s defense said his dose of Prozac had been increased shortly before the crash, andThe Greenville Newsreported he was driving under the influence of marijuana after using a vape pen, citing warrants. The warrants reportedly said Kennedy was on his way to his girlfriend’s house at the time of the accident, and that Parris was talking on a phone.

“A very good person died, and I feel so bad for the Parris family. Caleb’s very remorseful and his heartfelt sympathies are extended to the Parris family. This sentencing starts the healing process for everybody involved in this situation,” Kennedy’s attorney Ryan Beasley said in a statement toThe Greenville News. “He’s got no record, and he was a minor when this happened. 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.”

Parris was the founder of the Parris Construction Company and was a member of New Beginnings Church, according to his obituary.

Weeks after the crash, family including his wife Donna and daughter Kelsi gave an emotional plea during a virtual court hearing for Kennedy, asking the judge to deny him bond.

“I see my daddy laying in his own shop, moaning and groaning, with a stranger not even calling 911,” Kelsi said, according toThe 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.”

He later apologized, saying the video “displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way.”

Three years of his sentence will be on home detention, according toThe Greenville News. He will also receive credit for the nearly three years he has already served, which means he will likely serve about a year behind bars.

source: people.com