R & B singer R. Kelly has formally asked United States President Donald Trump to commute his prison sentence, raising fresh questions over whether the White House will consider granting executive clemency to the disgraced musician.
Court records released this week by the US Office of the Pardon Attorney show that Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, submitted a clemency application through the US Department of Justice. The request seeks a commutation of his sentence rather than a full presidential pardon, and the application remains under review.
Kelly is serving a combined 31-year federal prison sentence after convictions in separate criminal cases involving racketeering, sex trafficking, child enticement and child sexual abuse material offences.
In 2021, a federal court convicted him of racketeering, finding that he led a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for sexual exploitation and the production of pornography. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The following year, he was convicted in a separate federal case on three counts related to child sexual abuse material and three counts of child enticement.
Although he received a 20-year sentence, most of that term runs concurrently with his earlier sentence, extending his overall prison term by one additional year.
Kelly is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in North Carolina and is not expected to be released until January 2046.
His attorney, Beau Brindley, has spent more than a year urging Trump to intervene. In addition to pursuing executive clemency, Brindley previously sought Kelly’s transfer to home detention, alleging that his client faced threats to his life in prison and claiming that correctional officials were involved in a plot to have him killed by another inmate. The court rejected the emergency request.
Kelly has continued to deny the allegations that led to his convictions. It remains unclear whether Trump will act on the clemency request.
While the US president has the constitutional authority to grant pardons and commute federal sentences, there has been no indication from the White House that Kelly’s application is under active consideration or that any decision is imminent.
Until a determination is made, the singer will continue serving his sentence while his clemency petition remains pending.
