R. Kelly petitions for mercy, requests President Trump to shorten his 31-year jail term

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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He was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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The court, however, dismissed the application.

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Kelly has consistently denied the allegations against him.

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