R. Kelly Seeks Immediate Release Over Alleged Prison Gang Murder Conspiracy

Lawyers for R. Kelly are calling for his immediate release from federal prison, claiming that prosecutors and correctional officers have been working to have the singer killed behind bars as he serves time on sex trafficking and racketeering convictions.

Kelly's attorney, Beau Brindley, filed a motion on Tuesday to release Kelly from the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, where he is being held. During a court hearing, the attorney made shocking claims that government officials had plotted to murder his client.

"These are people who seek to kill Mr. Kelly rather than allow the corrupt criminal conduct of those who manufactured his convictions be exposed," Brindley said during a press conference after the hearing.

The attorney claims the allegations stem from testimony by fellow inmates who say they were approached by authorities to carry out the killing.

Conspiracy Theories About the Government

Per TMZ, the legal team submitted a sworn statement from a terminally ill inmate and Aryan Brotherhood gang leader identified as Mikeal Glenn Stine, who allegedly claimed authorities offered him freedom to spend his final days outside prison in exchange for murdering Kelly.

The purported plot involved Stine killing Kelly and facing charges for the crime, with prison officials then allegedly mishandling evidence and ultimately dismissing the case. Stine claims an official told him he could be transferred after committing the murder, allowed to escape, and remain free.

Brindley claims prosecutors and prison officials enlisted white supremacists to kill Kelly while he was in prison. The defense attorney stressed that the allegations of the murder-for-hire plot did not come from Kelly.

"We recognize the stunning quality of these allegations, but in the end, these are not allegations made by R. Kelly," the lawyer said, according to NBC Chicago.

"These are not allegations made by my office. These are allegations made by men who were solicited by government prosecutors and Bureau of Prisons officials," Brindley said, citing two inmates who he told claimed they were asked to kill Kelly.

Kelly's attorney said they would reach out to President Donald Trump to see if he would consider pardoning Kelly for what they claim are bogus charges, only "he seems to be the only person with the power and the courage to stand up to these people and make it count."

This is not the first time Kelly has attempted to escape from federal custody.

He had previously asked to be released from prison before his trial, considering the coronavirus pandemic and the fear of being exposed to the virus while in jail.

He was transferred in April 2023 from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to the federal correctional institution in Butner, North Carolina, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Now, his lawyer says those convictions came at the mercy of a weaponized criminal justice system and that Kelly's life is on the line. The defense team's latest filing marks their most sensational bid yet to win the R&B singer's release, shifting the focus of their argument from usual appeals to claims that the government is having their client murdered.

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Prison