R&B singer R. Kelly has formally petitioned United States President Donald Trump for clemency, seeking a commutation of the 31-year prison sentence he is currently serving following convictions for racketeering, sex trafficking, and child sexual abuse-related offences.
According to The Guardian on Thursday citing newly released records from the Office of the Pardon Attorney and reports by Newstracktoday, Kelly-whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly submitted a clemency application to the US Department of Justice.
The records show that the request is under review and seeks a commutation of his sentence rather than a full presidential pardon. If approved, the commutation would reduce Kelly’s prison term but would leave his convictions intact.
Kelly, 59, was convicted in 2021 on federal racketeering charges after prosecutors argued that he led a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and the production of child sexual abuse material.
Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison following his 2021 conviction.
In 2022, he was convicted in a separate federal case on three counts related to child sexual abuse material and three counts of child enticement.
He received an additional 20-year sentence, with most of that term set to run concurrently with his earlier sentence, effectively adding one year to his overall prison term.
Kelly is currently serving the combined 31-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina and is not expected to be eligible for release until January 2046.
His attorney, Beau Brindley, has spent more than a year urging President Donald Trump to grant Kelly clemency.
Last year, Brindley filed an emergency motion seeking Kelly’s transfer to home detention, claiming the singer’s life was at risk and alleging that prison officials were involved in a plot to have him killed by another inmate. The request was later dismissed by the court.
Kelly has consistently denied the allegations against him.
