R&B singer R Kelly has formally asked US president Donald Trump to reduce his 31-year prison sentence, submitting a request for executive clemency to the Department of Justice.
The appeal, revealed in newly released court records from the office of the pardon attorney, seeks a commutation of Kelly’s sentence rather than a full pardon. The request is currently listed as pending and will undergo review as part of the federal clemency process.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is serving his sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina after being convicted in two separate cases involving racketeering, sex trafficking, child enticement and the production of child sexual abuse material.
In 2021, the 59-year-old singer was found guilty of running a criminal enterprise that prosecutors said recruited women and underage girls for sexual exploitation and pornography. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
A year later, Kelly was convicted on additional charges related to child sexual abuse images and child enticement, receiving a further 20-year sentence. The sentences are being served mostly at the same time, with one additional year added, bringing his total prison term to 31 years. He is currently not expected to be eligible for release until January 2046.
Kelly’s attorney, Beau Brindley, has spent more than a year publicly urging Trump to intervene. In 2025, Brindley filed an emergency request seeking Kelly’s release to home detention, claiming the singer faced a threat to his life while incarcerated.
The lawyer alleged that three prison officials had been involved in a plot for a terminally ill inmate to harm Kelly in exchange for an earlier release. The request was denied by the court.
Brindley has continued to argue that Kelly’s sentence should be reduced, while Kelly has consistently denied the allegations against him and maintained his innocence.
The post R Kelly appeals to Donald Trump for reduced 31-year prison sentence appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
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