American R&B singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, popularly known as R. Kelly, has formally appealed to United States President Donald Trump to commute his 31-year federal prison sentence by filing a request for executive clemency with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Court records released this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney show that Kelly’s application is currently under review. The request seeks a commutation of his prison sentence rather than a full presidential pardon.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 in a federal racketeering case after prosecutors accused him of operating a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for sexual exploitation and the production of child sexual abuse material. Following the conviction, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
In 2022, the singer was found guilty in a separate federal case involving three counts related to child sexual abuse images and three counts of enticing minors for illegal sexual activity. He received an additional 20-year prison sentence, but the court ordered that all except one year of the sentence would run concurrently with the earlier 30-year term, resulting in a combined prison sentence of 31 years.
Kelly, 59, is currently incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in North Carolina. According to prison records, his projected release date is January 2046.
His attorney, Beau Brindley, has spent more than a year seeking executive intervention on his behalf. In 2025, Brindley filed an emergency motion requesting that Kelly be transferred from prison to home detention, alleging that prison officials had conspired with a terminally ill inmate to kill the singer in exchange for promises of early release.
Arguing that Kelly’s life was in danger, Brindley urged both the courts and President Trump to intervene.
“The only thing that can protect Mr. Kelly behind the prison walls now is the fact that the world is watching. We will call on the courts and President Trump to help put an end to the corruption that now threatens Mr. Kelly’s life,” Brindley said at the time.
The court, however, dismissed the emergency application, allowing Kelly to remain in federal custody.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Kelly has consistently denied the allegations and maintained his innocence. His request for executive clemency is now pending before the Office of the Pardon Attorney, while any decision on whether President Trump will grant a commutation remains unknown.
. Kelly Seeks Trump’s Clemency, Appeals for Commutation of 31-Year Federal Prison Sentence
