Jelly Roll, whose legal name is Jason Bradley DeFord, was convicted of aggravated robbery as a teenager in 2002 and later picked up multiple drug-related felony convictions during his twenties for possessing controlled substances with intent to distribute. Those are the convictions that defined his record. In April 2025, Tennessee’s governor granted him a full pardon after the state Board of Parole voted unanimously to recommend it.
The 2002 Aggravated Robbery
DeFord was seventeen when he took part in a Nashville robbery where a firearm was present. Tennessee treats robbery as “aggravated” when a deadly weapon is used or displayed, or when the victim suffers serious bodily injury. The gun pushed the charge from ordinary robbery into the aggravated category, classified as a Class B felony under state law.1Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-13-402 – Aggravated Robbery
Prosecutors charged him as an adult rather than routing the case through juvenile court. A Class B felony in Tennessee carries a sentence of eight to thirty years depending on the offender’s criminal history, with Range I offenders facing eight to twelve years at the low end.2Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-35-112 – Sentence Ranges DeFord served a little over a year in prison and then more than seven years on probation. The incarceration was short by Class B standards, but the conviction stamped a violent felony permanently onto his record.
The Drug Felonies
After his release, DeFord cycled back through the system on drug charges throughout his twenties. The offenses involved possessing controlled substances with the intent to sell or distribute them. Tennessee law makes it a felony to knowingly sell, deliver, or possess drugs with intent to distribute.3Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-17-417 – Criminal Offenses and Penalties
The line between simple possession and possession with intent to distribute changes the exposure dramatically. Someone holding a small amount for personal use faces far less prison time than someone the state believes was dealing. These convictions are classified as non-violent, but each one compounded his situation. Plea deals got tighter, bail got harder, and probation conditions stacked up. The drug felonies are what kept him entangled in the corrections system long after the robbery sentence was behind him.
Roughly Forty Arrests
The convictions tell only part of the story. DeFord has said publicly that he was arrested about forty times between his teens and his late twenties, a figure he discussed in his 2023 documentary Jelly Roll: Save Me. Many of those arrests ended in short stays at Nashville’s Metro Davidson County Jail rather than prison. A number involved probation violations or lower-level offenses tied to his lifestyle at the time, not fresh felony indictments.
That revolving-door pattern is common among people caught in cycles of addiction and poverty. He has since returned to the same Nashville jail to perform for inmates, and his willingness to talk openly about this history has become part of his public identity.
Why the Record Could Not Be Expunged
Tennessee’s expungement statute allows only a narrow set of convictions to be erased, mostly specific Class E felonies, certain Class D and C felonies, and misdemeanors. Aggravated robbery, a Class B felony, is not on the list. The statute also excludes offenses involving deadly weapons, physical force against another person, or the sale of Schedule I or II controlled substances above certain quantities.4Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-32-101 – Destruction or Release of Records DeFord’s convictions hit multiple disqualifying criteria. The court system alone could not clear his record, no matter how much time passed or how his life changed.
The 2025 Pardon
On April 22, 2025, the Tennessee Board of Parole voted unanimously to recommend that the governor pardon DeFord. The Board’s recommendation is advisory, not binding on the governor.5Legal Information Institute. Tennessee Comp. R. and Regs. 1100-01-01-.16 The governor accepted it and granted the pardon.
A pardon is not the same as an expungement. Expungement wipes the conviction from the record as though it never happened. A pardon leaves the conviction in place but represents official forgiveness from the state. The underlying convictions still appear on a background check, but the pardon signals that Tennessee considers DeFord rehabilitated and can restore civil rights that a felony conviction normally takes away, including voting eligibility and, depending on the scope of the pardon, firearm rights barred by federal law.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
For a searcher asking what Jelly Roll was convicted of, the honest answer is a Class B aggravated robbery from 2002 and a string of drug distribution felonies that followed. The pardon does not change what those convictions were. It changes what they mean now.