R. Kelly seeks clemency, asks Trump to reduce 31-year prison sentence

R&B singer R. Kelly has formally appealed to United States President Donald Trump to commute his 31-year prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking and child sexual abuse-related offences, The Guardian reports on Thursday.

Court records made public this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney showed that Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, filed a request for executive clemency with the US Department of Justice.

According to the records, the application is currently pending and seeks a commutation of his sentence rather than a full presidential pardon.

Kelly, 59, was convicted in 2021 of racketeering after prosecutors accused him of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and the production of pornography.

He was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.

In 2022, he was convicted in a separate case on three counts relating to child sexual abuse material and three counts of child enticement.

He received a 20-year sentence, most of which runs concurrently with his earlier sentence, extending his total prison term by one year.

He is currently serving the combined 31-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina and is not eligible for release until January 2046.

Kelly’s lawyer, Beau Brindley, has been lobbying Trump for more than a year to grant his client clemency.

Last year, Brindley filed an emergency motion seeking Kelly’s release to home detention, alleging that the singer’s life was in danger after claiming prison officials were involved in a plot to have him killed by another inmate.

The court, however, dismissed the application.

Kelly has consistently denied the allegations against him.