R. Kelly Is Asking Trump to Commute the 30-Year Sentence He’s Serving for Sexual Misconduct

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The Office of the Pardon Attorney made the clemency filing public this week, and online records show Kelly asked for a commutation rather than a full pardon. The underlying documents weren’t released, and the request is still pending. A separate motion for a new trial is also awaiting a ruling.

Kelly is serving his 30-year sentence at the FCC Butner complex in North Carolina, with a projected release date in 2045. The 30 years came out of his 2021 racketeering and sex trafficking conviction in the Eastern District of New York; a separate Chicago case on child pornography charges pushed his effective term to roughly 31 years. The Second Circuit upheld the New York conviction and sentence in 2025.

The bid follows a year of very public lobbying from attorney Beau Brindley, who first called on Trump to release the singer immediately. Brindley alleged federal authorities schemed to steal Kelly’s mail, flip witnesses against him, then have a member of the Aryan Brotherhood kill him in prison to bury the whole thing. He also said Kelly was hospitalized in June 2025 after an apparent overdose in solitary confinement, and described spiders in his cell and concerns about the food.

Man in a black suit with hands clasped standing in a wood-paneled courtroom, with a seated man in a suit visible behind him.
Dressed in a dark suit, R. Kelly stands before the judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago in March 2019, during a hearing in which he sought permission to travel to Dubai for concerts. Photo by E. Jason Wambsgans / Getty Images.

At a June 2025 news conference outside the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, Brindley said outright that he was targeting Trump and that the team was “seeking talks with the White House” about Kelly’s future. The White House has not publicly responded to the commutation request.

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Man in orange jail jumpsuit standing in profile at a court hearing, with other individuals blurred in the background.
Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, R. Kelly stands during a September 2019 status hearing at Chicago's Leighton Criminal Courthouse, where he was being held without bail on multiple sexual assault charges. Photo by Antonio Perez Getty Images.
Man in a black suit with hands clasped standing in a wood-paneled courtroom, with a seated man in a suit visible behind him.
Dressed in a dark suit, R. Kelly stands before the judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago in March 2019, during a hearing in which he sought permission to travel to Dubai for concerts. Photo by E. Jason Wambsgans Getty Images.
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Man in orange prison jumpsuit escorted by a uniformed officer inside a courtroom, with attorneys visible in the background.
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Donald Trump standing with arms outstretched and mouth open in front of a blue Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit backdrop, with the presidential seal on the table in front of him.
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Donald Trump speaking at a microphone at a podium bearing the presidential seal, with a blue Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit backdrop behind him.
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Nadia Santiago

Nadia Santiago is a writer who lives between the clouds and the coastline, and writes about all the things your heart knows but your mouth can never quite say.