R. Kelly seeks immediate prison release over alleged murder plot
R. Kelly’s attorneys have filed an emergency motion requesting his immediate release over claims that officials solicited a fellow inmate to murder him in prison.
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Lawyers for R. Kelly are alleging the singer overdosed last week on medication given to him by prison staff.
The “Ignition” singer’s legal team, in a June 17 filing obtained by USA TODAY, claims that after being placed in solitary confinement, prison staff provided him an “overdose quantity” of medication on June 12 compared to his normal anxiety and sleep medication dosages, leading to his hospitalization Friday, June 13. According to the filing, Kelly was forcibly removed from Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, against medical advice.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on “pending litigation.”
Born Robert Kelly, the 58-year-old singer has been serving a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking since 2022. He is serving his sentence in the Federal Correctional Institute facility in Butner, North Carolina.
The lawyers say leading up to his overdose, Kelly was placed in solitary confinement on June 10 “against his will,” shortly after his team filed an emergency motion for furlough last week. In that motion, Kelly’s team claimed three Bureau of Prisons officials allegedly devised a plot to have him killed by another inmate.
Then, in the early morning hours of June 13, according to the filing, Kelly woke up feeling “faint” and “dizzy.”
“He started to see black spots in his vision. Mr. Kelly tried to get up, but fell to the ground,” the updated motion stated. “He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness.”
Onsite prison medical staff could not help him, so he was transported to Duke University Hospital by ambulance, the filing continued. He was hospitalized for two days.
Kelly’s team was only able to speak to him late June 16, after a previous call was canceled “without explanation,” they wrote.
This story is developing.