R. Kelly’s lawyers are requesting his release after an alleged murder-for-hire plot in his North Carolina prison.
Born Robert Kelly, the 58-year-old singer has been serving a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking since 2022. But lawyers for the “Ignition” singer say he should be moved from federal prison to home detention after three Bureau of Prisons officials allegedly devised a plot to have Kelly killed by another inmate, according to an emergency motion.
“Federal officers have solicited the murder of R. Kelly because he intends to expose the corruption underlying his federal prosecutions. We have filed our motion to make sure that they fail,” Kelly’s attorney, Beau B Brindley, wrote in a statement to USA TODAY June 11. “The only thing that can protect Mr. Kelly behind the prison walls now is the fact that now the world is watching. And we will call on the courts and President Trump to help put an end to the corruption that now threatens Mr. Kelly’s life.”
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on “pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings.”
Kelly’s team provided a sworn statement from an inmate named Mikeal Stine, saying the officials offered to release him amid his terminal illness in exchange for Kelly’s murder. Stine, a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, alleged he was previously directed to order beatings and killings by a prison official who also ordered the killing of Kelly. Stine said he was transferred in March to the Federal Correctional Institute facility in Butner, North Carolina – where Kelly is being held – and placed in the same unit.
Once Stine carried out the killing, he claimed officials said he would be allowed to escape the facility and though he’d be charged with murder, evidence would be mishandled, resulting in no conviction.
However, according to Stine’s declaration, he had a change of heart and told Kelly about the plot. Kelly’s lawyers also claim that in June, a second inmate with the Aryan Brotherhood was directed to kill both Stine and Kelly.
Kelly is serving his sentence in North Carolina after his 2021 and 2022 convictions for racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography and enticement. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in a Brooklyn federal court in 2022 and 20 years in a Chicago federal court in 2023, to be served concurrently. One year from the latter sentence is set to be served consecutively.
This story has been updated to include additional information.
