R. Kelly has formally asked President Donald Trump to commute his 30-year sentence, according to court records made public this week by the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
The request for commutation, as first reported by the Chicago Tribune, is listed as currently pending and is not asking Trump for a full pardon. It comes a little over a year after his attorney Beau Brindley filed an emergency motion seeking the singer’s immediate release from federal custody to home detention, claiming that his life was in danger and accusing the government of misconduct.
In that filing, R. Kelly‘s legal team provided a sworn declaration from a terminally ill inmate who stated that officials offered him freedom in his final days in exchange for Kelly’s murder. The inmate claimed that he was told Kelly and his attorneys were planning to expose damaging information, as the filing alleged that officials violated attorney-client privilege by intercepting personal correspondence.
After the filing was made, Brindley told Variety that Kelly was being “punished” with solitary confinement for taking the action. He declared that he would seek a pardon from Trump and had spoken with Trump associates in hopes of reaching the President.
