R Kelly has filed a formal clemency petition with President Donald Trump, seeking to commute his 30-year prison sentence after claiming his life is in danger at a North Carolina facility, reports allhiphop.com.
The request was submitted this week to the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney and is now pending, according to reports.
The singer is serving concurrent sentences: a 2021 racketeering and sex trafficking term from New York and a 2022 child pornography sentence from Chicago. He was convicted of running a scheme that sexually abused women and girls, including his goddaughter, over many years. The Chicago case added convictions for producing child sexual abuse images and enticing minors.
Without a commutation, Kelly is not scheduled for release until 2045, when he will be nearly 79 years old.
This formal petition marks the first time Kelly’s legal team has used the official Pardon Attorney channels rather than informal appeals to the president. Previous attempts at securing a new trial, bond or emergency release have all failed, including a rejection from the Supreme Court and a judge’s ruling that she lacked authority to grant early release.
Kelly’s attorneys claim prison officials at his North Carolina facility recruited an Aryan Brotherhood member to kill him. They say he was placed in solitary confinement and received a medication overdose that caused blood clots, requiring surgery. A declaration from an Aryan Brotherhood leader is cited as evidence.
Federal prosecutors have rejected the allegations, accusing Kelly of portraying himself as a victim rather than accepting responsibility. Government lawyers have described the murder plot claim as a fanciful conspiracy with no supporting evidence.
The petition comes during a period of increased clemency activity by President Trump, who recently commuted the sentence of Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover. Kelly’s attorney, Beau Brindley, said last year that the singer does not have time to pursue normal channels.
Kelly’s case has been the subject of intense legal scrutiny since his 2021 conviction, with multiple appeals and public statements from both his legal team and victims’ families. The singer has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings.