R. Kelly petitions Trump for commutation of 30-year sentence
R. Kelly’s lawyer filed a formal request for President Trump to commute the singer’s 30-year prison term, while a separate emergency motion for release was denied.
A court filing released by the Office of the Pardon Attorney shows that R. Kelly has formally asked President Donald Trump to commute his 30-year federal sentence. The request, which seeks a reduction rather than a full pardon, is listed as pending.
The petition follows an emergency motion filed last year by Kelly’s attorney, Beau Brindley, that sought immediate home detention on the grounds that the singer’s life was in danger and that government officials had engaged in misconduct. A judge denied that motion.
In the earlier filing, Kelly’s legal team submitted a sworn statement from a terminally ill inmate alleging that officials offered the inmate freedom in exchange for killing Kelly and that the government had intercepted privileged attorney-client communications. Brindley told Variety that Kelly was placed in solitary confinement and that he would pursue a pardon from Trump, citing the president’s alleged understanding of prosecutorial abuse.
Kelly, whose legal name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted in September 2021 on nine counts, including violations of the Mann Act and racketeering related to sexual exploitation of children. He received a 30-year sentence in June 2022, and a separate 20-year sentence in February 2023 for additional child-sex crimes, with most of the latter to run concurrently with the earlier term.