R. Kelly officially asks Donald Trump to cut short his 31-year prison sentence
R Kelly has officially asked US President Donald Trump to commute his 31-year jail sentence.
The disgraced R&B singer, real name Robert Kelly, was convicted of federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges in New York back in September 2021 and handed a 30-year sentence.
In February 2023, Kelly was separately sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes, with the sentence running concurrently, apart from one additional year.
But lawyers working on behalf of the 59-year-old have now officially submitted a request to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney to end his sentence.
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The request, which was first reported by The Chicago Tribune, is for a commutation of his sentence, not a full pardon, and is still pending.
Kelly’s lawyer Beau Brindley told TMZ that he will pursue ‘every other avenue for justice’ for his client.
He told the outlet that he believes the Department of Justice ‘targeted a public figure rather than seeking justice’.
A White House official told The Independent that the request looked to be a ‘random submission through a public portal’ that anyone is able to access.
The official went on to say that the White House team that deals with and reviews clemency requests is ‘not tracking Kelly’s submission at this time’.
But did say that the process is ‘thorough’ and added that the final decision on who gets clemency, or not, is down to Trump.
This isn’t the first time Kelly’s legal team has called on President Trump to free him from prison.
In June 2025, his lawyers filed an emergency motion for him to be released from prison and transferred to house arrest.
The filing alleged that three prison officials had orchestrated a plot for a fellow inmate to kill Kelly and called on Trump to act.
Brindley told US Today at the time: "Federal officers have solicited the murder of R. Kelly because he intends to expose the corruption underlying his federal prosecutions. We have filed our motion to make sure that they fail.
"The only thing that can protect Mr. Kelly behind the prison walls now is the fact that now the world is watching. And we will call on the courts and President Trump to help put an end to the corruption that now threatens Mr. Kelly's life."
The motion was denied by a judge days later.
Kelly shot to fame back in the 1990s with hits such as I Believe I Can Fly, Bump N’ Grind and Ignition.
However, his career was derailed following a series of sexual misconduct accusations that dated back to the 2000s.
The full extent of his heinous crimes was made public during a six-week high profile trial in New York, where he was found guilty of nine counts, including sexual exploitation of children, forced labour and sex trafficking.
Today, Kelly remains incarcerated at North Carolina after being transferred from a Chicago prison in April 2023.
According to records seen by The Chicago Tribune, Kelly will not be eligible for release until January 2046 when he will be 79-years-old.
Topics: Crime
Claire Reid