R Kelly formally appeals to Donald Trump to commute his 31-year prison sentence

The R&B singer was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and producing child abuse images, with his lawyer lobbying the US president for more than a year R Kelly has formally appealed to the US president, Donald Trump, for a reduction of his 31-year prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking and child abuse images, in a filing to the Department of Justice. The 59-year-old R&B singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2021 of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and pornography, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022 he was found guilty on three counts of child abuse images and three counts of child enticement and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he is serving nearly entirely concurrently but for one additional year. He is currently serving his combined 31-year sentence at a North Carolina federal prison and is currently not eligible for release until January 2046. Kelly’s request for commutation was revealed in court records made public this week by the office of the pardon attorney, which reviews filings for executive clemency for the White House. Kelly