R. Kelly Petitions Trump to Commute 31-Year Prison Term After Failed Appeals
Updated
Updated · USA TODAY · Jul 15
R. Kelly Petitions Trump to Commute 31-Year Prison Term After Failed Appeals
3 articles · Updated · USA TODAY · Jul 15
Summary
Justice Department records show R. Kelly has formally filed a clemency petition asking President Donald Trump to cut his combined 31-year federal prison term.
The 58-year-old singer is serving time in North Carolina after 2021 and 2022 convictions on racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography and child enticement charges.
His sentences total 30 years in New York and 20 years in Chicago, but the Chicago judgment adds only one extra year because most of that term runs concurrently.
The filing follows failed efforts to overturn his convictions and a June 2025 emergency bid for home confinement that alleged Bureau of Prisons officials endangered his life; a judge rejected that motion.
Kelly's lawyer has argued Trump should intervene over alleged corruption in the prosecutions, turning a public appeal made last year into a formal clemency request.