Controversial American singer R. Kelly has officially asked President Donald Trump to commute his 30-year prison sentence, according to the latest court records released this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
As the Chicago Tribune reports, this request has been officially filed as "pending" and does not ask the President of the United States for a full pardon, but rather a reduced sentence.
The former R&B star's legal team made the desperate move more than a year after his attorney, Beau Brindley, filed an emergency motion to move the singer to house arrest, arguing that his life was in imminent danger in federal prison.
In official court documents, Kelly's defense team included a shocking affidavit from a terminally ill inmate. According to him, prison officials offered him freedom in his final days, but on one grisly condition: to kill R. Kelly.
The inmate claimed that the liquidation plan was devised because authorities believed that Kelly and his lawyers were planning to reveal compromising information about corruption in the prison. The defense also accused the state of gravely violating attorney-client privilege and intercepting the singer's private correspondence.
After these allegations were made public, Kelly's lawyer, Bo Brindley, told the media that the singer was expressly "punished" by being sent to solitary confinement, which is why he decided to address the White House directly.
In an interview with Variety, attorney Beau Brindley explained why he believes Donald Trump would be the one to understand his client's case.
"I think it's particularly interesting for President Trump because, unlike most people who approach this with a dose of skepticism, he has a personal unique understanding of what it's like to be a victim of prosecution and to go through that experience through corrupt and criminal hacking attacks," Brindley said, adding:
– He understands what it's like, and when he knows it's escalating to the point of death threats to cover up the corruption we're trying to root out, he might be the only person who would have the courage to pull the trigger and say he wants to stop it immediately.
In parallel with this, the defense also filed a motion for a new trial, claiming that prosecutors directly influenced the verdict by conspiring and illegally stealing the famous singer's prison correspondence.
As a reminder, musician R. Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted in September 2021 on nine counts, including racketeering, violating the Mann Act, and systemic sexual exploitation of children.
In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Already in February 2023, at a separate trial, Kelly received another 20 years in prison for child sex crimes, but the judge ruled that both sentences would be served concurrently, meaning he faces three decades of life behind bars.
