R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: A Jury of His Peers?

R. Kelly suffered a defeat in his child pornography trial yesterday, as his defense team failed to balance the jury between whites and blacks, and to bar a woman who described herself as a rape victim.

During final negotiations over jurors, prosecutors asked the judge to exclude a black man who had sued Cook County for performing illegal medical tests on him while he was a prisoner in jail. They claimed his experiences with the justice system would bias him against the prosecution. Sam Adam Sr., a lawyer representing Kelly, stood up to object.

“I think they’re using these to get rid of African-Americans,” Adam charged.

“I don’t think they’re doing that,” Judge Vincent Gaughan responded. “You keep saying that. You haven’t mentioned all the white males you dismissed.”
 
Gaughan refused to dismiss the man, forcing the prosecution to use one of its peremptory strikes, which allow lawyers to veto a juror for any reason. Each side was allowed seven strikes.

Adam again objected when the state moved to eliminate a black man who stated during his juror interview that he’d once spent a year in jail, but couldn’t remember when.

“Once again, it’s another black juror they’re trying to get rid of,” Adam said.

This time, Gaughan bounced the candidate on the grounds that he had been “deceitful” about his criminal past when filling out his juror questionnaire.

The exchanges raised deep questions about the justice system’s fairness to African-Americans. The men were barred from the jury not because they were black, but because they were veterans of the penal system — which incarcerates blacks at a far higher rate than whites. That can become a self-perpetuating dilemma, since eliminating black ex-cons from jury pools would seem to produce juries more likely to convict black men.

Kelly’s lawyers tried strenuously to keep the rape victim off the jury, but by that point in jury selection, they had used all of their seven strikes. During questioning, the woman was asked whether she could put aside her sexual assault when judging Kelly. Her response: “It would be hard, but yes.”

“Given the nature of this prosecution, we ask that she be dismissed for cause,” said Edward Genson, Kelly’s lead attorney. Gaughan refused the motion, then refused to grant the defense an eighth strike.

Kelly’s jury will consist of eight blacks and four whites. Eight of the jurors are men; four are women.

People of the State of Illinois: 1; Robert Kelly: 0.