Aretha Franklin’s youngest son sentenced on DUI charge that came just after her death

By Brianna Rhodes

·January 31, 2019

Aretha Franklin performs onstage during the 'Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives' Premiere Concert during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival at Radio City Music Hall on April 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)

Aretha Franklin’s youngest son Kecalf Cunningham is serving jail time on a DUI charge that happened nearly eight weeks after the soul singer’s death last year, the Daily Mail reports.

Cunningham, 48, was sentenced 93 days in jail on a drinking and driving charge on October 27, 2018. The incident happened after Franklin lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on August 16 at the age of 76.

He has been in police custody since October and he is set to be released on February 26.

Cunningham, a Christian rapper, was born to Franklin and her road manager, Ken Cunningham in 1970.

There has been additional drama among Franklin’s family members since the icon’s death.

Edward Franklin, the Queen of Soul’s other son is currently part of an investigation in the theft of valuable property.

Edward is in a battle with Franklin’s estate in an attempted effort to receiving a court order to force the estate to create financial documents to the soul singer’s heirs.

Franklin also reportedly owes the IRS $6 million in unpaid income taxes. Franklin’s debt is the culmination of years of back taxes from December 2012 to December 2018. According to records, she has an unpaid assessed balance of $1,305,403, which included $552,718 due on Dec. 31st of last year.

The filing states: “no part of this debt has been paid and it is now due and payable to the United States Treasury at the Office of the Internal Revenue Service” and “this debt has priority and must be paid in full in advance of distribution to creditors to the extent provided by law.”