R. Kelly files commutation request with Office of Pardon Attorney for 31-year sentence

• R. Kelly, 59, formally asked President Donald Trump to commute his 31-year federal prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking, and child abuse images, according to court records made public this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
• Kelly was convicted in 2021 of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and pornography, and in 2022 on charges of child abuse images and enticement.
• Kelly’s lawyer, Beau Brindley, has been publicly lobbying Trump for more than a year and filed an emergency motion in 2025 seeking Kelly’s release to home detention, citing threats to his life; the motion was denied.
• Kelly is serving his sentence at a North Carolina federal prison and is not eligible for release until January 2046; he has repeatedly denied all allegations.

Attorney made earlier emergency bid for home detention over alleged death threats

R. Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, formally requested a commutation of his sentence in a filing to the Department of Justice, according to court records disclosed this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the agency that reviews executive clemency applications for the White House. The request is listed as “pending” and is not a request for a full pardon.

Kelly was found guilty in 2021 of racketeering, sex trafficking, and producing child abuse images and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022, he was convicted on three counts of child abuse images and three counts of child enticement and received a 20-year sentence, which he is serving almost entirely concurrently to the first sentence, with one additional year. His combined 31-year sentence is being served at a federal prison in North Carolina, and he is currently not eligible for release until January 2046.

Kelly’s attorney, Beau Brindley, has been publicly campaigning for the singer’s release for more than a year. In 2025, Brindley filed an emergency motion seeking Kelly’s immediate release from federal custody to home detention, alleging that prison officials had orchestrated a plot for a terminally ill inmate to kill Kelly in exchange for an early release. Brindley said at the time that “the only thing that can protect Mr Kelly behind the prison walls now is the fact that now the world is watching. And we will call on the courts and President Trump to help put an end to the corruption that now threatens Mr Kelly’s life.” The motion was denied.

Kelly has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.