R. Kelly’s legal team has filed an emergency motion seeking his immediate release from federal custody to home detention, claiming that his life is in danger and accusing the government of misconduct.
In Tuesday’s filing, reviewed by Variety, Kelly’s attorneys claim that they have explicit evidence that officials solicited an inmate to murder him while in custody at a federal penitentiary in North Carolina, where he’s serving a 30-year sentence.
His counsel provided a sworn declaration from Mikeal Glenn Stine, a terminally ill inmate, who stated that officials offered him freedom in his final days in exchange for Kelly’s murder. Stine claimed that he was told Kelly and his attorneys were planning to expose damaging information, as the filing alleges that officials violated attorney-client privilege by intercepting personal correspondence. Stine stated that officials told him he would be charged with Kelly’s murder, but that evidence would be mishandled and there would be no conviction.
Stine, a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, arrived at Kelly’s unit this past March, and though he was prepared to kill him, he had a change of heart and instead told Kelly that Bureau of Prisons officials directed him to carry out his murder. Kelly’s counsel alleges that in June, they learned of a second member of the Aryan Brotherhood who was directed by officials to kill both Kelly and Stine. They claim that Kelly is in danger as he remains in custody with other members of the Brotherhood.
“The threat to Mr. Kelly’s life continues each day that no action is taken,” reads the filing. “More A.B. members are accumulating at his facility. More than one has already been approached about carrying out his murder. One of them will surely do what Mr. Stine has not, thereby burying the truth about what happened in this case along with Robert Kelly.”
Kelly’s attorney, Beau B. Brindley, is asking the judge to release him to home detention on a temporary furlough. Variety has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago for comment.
The singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was initially convicted of nine counts of a superseding indictment in Sept. 2021. He was charged with violating the Mann Act and racketeering that involved the sexual exploitation of children. The following June, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In Feb. 2023, Kelly was separately sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes, with the judge ruling that all but one year would be served concurrently with his previous 30-year sentence.
This past February, an appeals court upheld Kelly’s racketeering and sex trafficking convictions as well as his 30-year prison sentence. The court rejected his claims that trial evidence was inadequate and that the trial judge made improper rulings.
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