R. Kelly Formally Asks Trump to Commute His 30-Year Prison Sentence
R&B singer R. Kelly has formally requested that President Donald Trump commute his 30-year federal prison sentence, according to records made public this week by the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney.
The request, first reported by the Chicago Tribune, seeks a commutation rather than a full pardon, meaning Kelly's legal team is asking for his sentence to be reduced or ended without erasing his underlying federal convictions. The case is currently listed as pending with the White House. Any supporting documents Kelly's team submitted with the request have not been made public, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What Kelly Was Convicted Of
Kelly, 59, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted on all counts at a 2021 federal trial in Brooklyn, where a jury found him guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping and forced labor.
He was later convicted separately in a Chicago federal case on additional charges related to child pornography and enticement. At his Brooklyn trial, jurors found that Kelly had sex with underage girls and bribed a state employee to create a fraudulent ID so he could marry singer Aaliyah, then 15, after he came to believe she was pregnant and thought marrying her would shield him from prosecution.
The Background Behind the Request
Kelly's push for clemency has been building for more than a year. In June 2025, his attorney, Beau Brindley, filed an emergency motion seeking Kelly's immediate release to home detention, citing health concerns and alleging his life was in danger in custody.
That filing included a sworn declaration from a terminally ill inmate who claimed prison officials had offered him freedom in exchange for killing Kelly, part of a broader allegation that officials had intercepted privileged attorney-client communications and were trying to prevent damaging information from becoming public. Brindley separately claimed that Kelly had been placed in solitary confinement in retaliation for pursuing the claims and, at one point, said Kelly had gone days without eating due to concerns about the safety of food being provided to him.
At a news conference at the time, Brindley said he intended to appeal directly to Trump for help, arguing the president would be uniquely sympathetic to Kelly's situation. "I think it's a particular interest to President Trump because, unlike most people who come to this with an air of skepticism, [he] has a personal, unique understanding of what it's like to be victimized by prosecution teams," Brindley told Variety at the time. A federal judge in Chicago has not yet ruled on Kelly's motion for a new trial, and his earlier request for release on bond was reportedly rejected.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Clemency
The formal commutation request comes after Trump commuted the federal life sentence of Larry Hoover, founder of the Gangster Disciples gang, last year. Trump has been active in granting clemency during his second term and has often bypassed the traditional Office of the Pardon Attorney process in doing so. Separately, Trump has said he is not considering a pardon for Sean "Diddy" Combs, who faces his own high-profile federal case.
There is no indication that Trump has made a decision on Kelly's request, and it remains unclear how much support Kelly's petition has beyond his own legal team.
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