R. Kelly Trial
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Kells Gets Off
6/13/08
Friday the 13th was R. Kelly’s lucky day.
The R&B superstar has a well-documented fondness for teenage girls -- he loves ’em so much he even married one -- but according to a Chicago jury, he is not a child pornographer.
At 2 p.m., the jury foreman in Kelly’s child pornography trial handed 14 verdict sheets to Judge Vincent Gaughan, who reviewed the decision, then passed it to his clerk, Patty Glikis.
“Will you publish the decision?” Gaughan asked.
At the defense table, Kelly sat with his head bowed in prayer, squeezing the hands of his attorneys, Edward Genson and Sam Adam Jr. There was an unusual addition to his courtroom attire: a pale blue handkerchief, blooming from his breast pocket.When Glikis read the first “not guilty,” Kelly whispered “Thank you, Jesus,” and began weeping. By the time he rose from his seat, he had been acquitted on all counts, and his damp handkerchief was limp in his hand. Kelly hugged his attorneys, then, for the final time in six years, left the Cook County Criminal Court Building, passing a throng of supporters who cheered and chased his black SUV as it headed south on California Street, back to his suburban mansion.
Kelly’s triumphant defense team gathered in front of TV cameras in a first-floor room of the courthouse. Their client had been vindicated. Their bones had been made. The next time a celebrity got caught with his pants down in Chicago, they’d be getting the call.
“There wasn’t enough evidence,” Genson said, again pointing to the fact that Kelly’s alleged victim never appeared in court. “We have been talking about a victim that wasn’t a victim.”The prosecution presented “a fourth generation tape that was filled with all sorts of noise. You couldn’t see anything.”
And Genson contends that the prosecution's star witness. Lisa Van Allen, only testified to a threesome with Kelly and the teenage girl because she failed to extort hush money from the singer. "If they would have believed Lisa Van Allen, there wouldn't have been a guilty verdict," Genson said.
Then it was the turn of the prosecutors, who had to explain why they couldn’t convince a dozen Chicagoans that R. Kelly had cavorted with a teenage girl. Assistant State’s Attorney Shauna Boliker was more neatly coifed than at any time during the trial. Clearly, she’d been expecting a victory speech, but she gamely defended her case, and her victim, who'd testified in a previous grand jury proceeding that she hadn’t appeared on the tape.
“If we do anything with this prosecution, it shows the world how difficult child pornography is to prosecute,” Boliker said. “It takes the soul of a victim, the heart of a victim, and they often don’t want to participate because of the humiliation.”
Was Boliker surprised by the verdict?
"Based on his celebrity, based on all the factors here, nothing surprises us,” she said.After Kelly was gone, five jurors agreed to a group interview in the empty courtroom.
Sitting at the end of the table was the bearded, Tony Manero-haired Juror #44, who was nearly kicked off the panel after threatening a waiter. After deliberating Thursday afternoon, the jury spent Thursday night at a hotel, and #44 had become cranky when his post-deliberation cocktail didn’t arrive quickly enough.
“I’ve been waiting fucking half an hour for a drink!” he shouted.
Told to cool it, he became even more demanding.
“All I want is a couple beers and a hamburger. That’s all I want.”
#44 was taken outside by a deputy that night to calm down. On Friday morning, he was brought before the judge, who noted his giggling, grinning mien, and asked, “Do you have any mental problems?”
Apparently, he was sane enough to decide that a sex tape shot in R. Kelly’s basement -- starring R. Kelly and a girl who 14 witnesses said was his teenaged godddaughter -- was not a criminal offense.
The jurors described a deliberation that began with a vote of 9-3 not guilty, swung to 7-5 not guilty, then arrived at acquittal after seven hours of debate. All agreed that the lack of a victim hurt the prosecution. They were never able to determine whether the girl on the tape was the girl named in the indictment.
“The key problem was the identity of the female on People’s Evidence #1,” said one juror, a white male in his 30s. That juror also felt that “the absence of [the girl] and her family was a major lack of evidence.”
Another juror, a black male in his 40s, initially voted guilty. He was convinced that the man on the tape was Kelly, but was not “100% sure” about the girl.
So we now know that if you’re a millionaire R&B star, with an expensively-dressed lawyer, you can piss on anyone you want. But we may never know just who R. Kelly pissed on. At least not beyond a reasonable doubt.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: NOT GUILTY
6/13/2008
Details to follow...
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: A Porno Santa Claus?
6/12/08We knew it was a big moment in the R. Kelly trial because Sway from MTV News finally showed up. And indeed it was. Six years after he was charged with child pornography, R. Kelly’s freedom is finally up to a jury.
“Today is finally the day,” Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Heilingoetter said in his closing argument, addressing the nine men and three women who will decide Kelly’s guilt or innocence. “It’s the opportunity to hold the defendant criminally responsible for the creation of this tape.”
Heilingoetter had just finished narrating the infamous 27-minute video, pointing out every oral, genital and manual act named on the 14-count indictment against Kelly. Jurors had already seen the tape, but for the spectators packing the gallery, it was as awkward as listening to a church choir sing "Sex Planet." During Kelly's climactic scene, one woman threw up her hands as if to say, "Do we have to watch this?"
Heilingoetter also tried to answer the defense’s question, “Where did this tape come from?” by pointing out that Kelly stored his amateur porn in a duffel bag, which he carried to the gym and the recording studio.
“Somebody lifted the tape out of his duffel bag when he was playing basketball or performing at the studio,” Heilingoetter speculated.
Heilingoetter’s counterpart, Sam Adam Jr., put on a frantic, desperate performance that raised the question of whether he’d gone to law school or just watched Al Pacino in …And Justice For All. Adam compared prosecution witness Lisa Van Allen to the devil, quoting the Bible verse, “And Satan shall come disguised as the angel of light.” He raised a laugh from jurors when he mocked Van Allen’s claim that Kelly carried a bag full of sex tapes, “like a porno Santa Claus.”
Adam hammered the prosecution’s weakest point: the fact that the alleged victim never appeared in court.“How do you victimize a victim when she says she’s not a victim?” Adam asked, bringing up the fact that the girl told a grand jury that she does not appear on the tape. Convicting Kelly, he charged, would be tantamount to saying, "This girl is a whore."
The prosecution’s answer, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Shauna Boliker?
“We don’t need to drag that poor child into court. We have proved this case with the 14 witnesses who have identified [the girl] and Robert Kelly.”
The jury began deliberating at 2:30 p.m. At one point, they asked for a transcript of Van Allen’s testimony, suggesting her credibility may be crucial to the state’s case. Gaughan told them to rely on their notes. At 6 p.m., jurors were sent to a hotel for the night. Deliberations will resume Friday morning. They could go quickly, because jurors won’t sleep in their own beds until they cough up a verdict.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Jury Time!
6/12/08
Closing arguments for both the defense and the prosecution are over. It's now up to the jury. Check back soon for details. And, in the meantime, predict Kells's fate in our poll:
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: "I decided not to testify"
6/10/2008We’ve been telling you about the lawyers, the witnesses, the judge and the spectators. But what about the defendant? R. Kelly has been a silent, inscrutable presence at his trial, but today, he spoke his first words, as he declined to testify in his defense. Here’s how Kelly spent the next-to-last day of his child pornography trial.
9:45 a.m. A punctual defendant, Kelly is at the defense table well before his trial begins. When defense attorney Sam Adam Sr. arrives, Kelly greets him with a firm, brotherly handshake.
10 a.m. Judge Vincent Gaughan is still dealing with smaller cases. A prisoner in a tan jumpsuit and Kelly-style braids accepts a three-year sentence for escaping from a work-release program. As the young man is led away, he offers Kelly a thumbs up. Kelly nods back.
10:20 a.m. For the first time in his trial, Kelly speaks, as Gaughan asks him if he wants to testify.
“Mr. Kelly,” Gaughan begins.
Kelly rises from his chair, but Gaughan motions him to sit.
“Just relax,” Gaughan says. “I appreciate your standing up.”
“You have a constitutional right to testify in this case,” the judge continues. “You understand that?”
“Yes, I do,” Kelly says in a soft voice.
“Your lawyers explained that to you?”
“Yes, they did.”
“Mr. Kelly, at this point, what do you prefer to do?”
“I decided not to testify,” Kelly says, in a near-whisper.
1 p.m. Attorney Edward Genson goes through the sex tape frame by frame, making one last-ditch effort to persuade the jury that the dark spot on Alleged Kelly’s back is not a mole, but static, or a computer illustration. Kelly lapses into his usual expressionless glare.
2 p.m. The trial breaks for lunch. R. Kelly does not eat at Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits, or from the “roach coaches,” the lunch wagons lined up on California Street. Kelly travels to his trial in a tour bus, which waits for him in Douglas Park, a mile from the courthouse. Kelly walks past the papparazzi, and into a waiting SUV, which drives him to the bus for a private meal.
3:30 p.m. Kelly’s attorney’s disappear into the judge’s chambers, to argue they didn’t receive a pristine copy of the sex tape from the prosecution. All alone at the defense table, a bored Kelly pops a mint into his mouth, then closes his eyes, appearing to nap. When he comes to, Kelly leans his forehead into his steepled hands, and rubs temples with his thumbs.
4:30 p.m. Court in recess. Kelly leaves the courthouse for his last perp walk of the day. The bus leaves Douglas Park, headed for Kelly’s suburban estate.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: That's The Defense?
6/9/2008R. Kelly is paying his lead attorney $700 an hour, and this is the defense he gets?
After just two days of testimony and twelve witnesses — some of whom spent less than five minutes on the stand — attorney Edward Genson rested Kelly’s case on Monday.
That means we’re not going to hear from Damon Pryor, baby daddy of Lisa Van Allen, the woman who claimed she was third wheel in a threesome with Kelly and his alleged victim. We’re not going to hear from Adelina Prado, who also has a tale to tell about a threesome with Kelly. Nor will we see the girl who supposedly appears on the tape. Now 23, she still insists it wasn’t her in that wood-paneled basement. Other no-shows: “Chuck and Keith,” the bumbling K.C. duo who sold Van Allen’s threesome tape back to Kelly for $40,000.
That’s a letdown for prurient courtroom horndogs who’ve been enjoying the carnival of grifters, hos and P.I.s taking the stand. And it’s bad news for Kelly. The jury has to be thinking, “If that’s all his lawyers could come up with, he’s got a pretty weak case.”
Why did the defense wave the white flag? A few possible reasons:
>> Genson has been outlawyered by Assistant State’s Attorney Shauna Boliker. Three members of the alleged victim’s family testified that the girl on the tape wasn’t the girl they knew. Boliker confronted them with look-alike photos from a 4 The Cause music video and the sex tape. All three stuck to their stories, looked like liars. Charles Palm, a forensic video expert for the defense, claimed the tape could have been a digitized fake. Boliker played the golden shower scene, asking “Could this have been faked?” That gave the jury one more look at Alleged Kelly peeing on Alleged Teenage Groupie.
>> The remaining witnesses are sleeeaaazzzy. Pryor has been convicted on federal fraud charges. Prado’s only area of expertise is three-way sex. Chuck and Keith are Charles Freeman and Keith Murrell. Freeman sued Kelly in 2002, after Kells stiffed him on a $140,000 fee for recovering the sex tape at issue in this case. Kelly's lawyers are still trying to discredit Van Allen, but these weasels look even shadier than Threesome Girl.
>> If the defense calls Alleged Teenage Groupie to the stand, her mouth will say “It wasn’t me,” but her face will shout “It’s Her!”
On Tuesday, prosecutors bring in two rebuttal witness. Closing arguments are Thursday. We may have a verdict this week.
Despite being down 21-0 in the fourth quarter, Kelly may be planning to continue his filmmaking career after the trial. Spotted in the defense pew today: Eric Lane, who played Twan in "Trapped In the Closet." Could they be planning a new chapter, about an R&B star who takes a false kiddie porn rap, then is spared by a last-minute defense maneuver? We'll know soon.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Kelly's Private Dick
6/5/08With a name like Jack Palladino, you’ve got to be either a private investigator or a strip-club owner. The Jack Palladino who testified at R. Kelly’s trial is a bit of both. In 1992, Bill Clinton hired Palladino to keep his bimbo eruptions quiet. Now, he’s trying to keep R. Kelly’s old flames from scorching him. The private dick was paid $15,000 to discredit Lisa Van Allen, the woman who testified she took part in a taped threesome with Kells.
Dapper, bald and soft-spoken, Palladino resembled famed drama prof James Lipton. His theatrical showdown with Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Heilingoetter could have been titled Inside the Lawyers’ Studio.
In March, Palladino flew to Atlanta to meet with Van Allen and her boyfriend, Yul Brown. Palladino suspected they were out to extort Kelly, and “I wanted to give them the opportunity to commit a crime.” He took the couple to dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel. There, he testified, Brown claimed that Van Allen had been offered $300,000 to write a book about her relationship with Kelly.
“I kept asking who,” Palladino said when questioned by Sam Adam Sr, an attorney for Kelly. “They wouldn’t tell me. I mocked them about it, because I found it totally incredible. I assumed they were trying to solicit a bribe” in exchange for not testifying against Kelly.
When Palladino refused to pay, Brown told him to "talk to your client," then got up from the table, the detective testified.
During cross-examination, Heilingoetter paced back and forth before springing a zinger on Palladino.
“Is it a crime to for a publisher to offer someone $300,000 for some information?” Heilingoetter demanded.
“Absolutely not,” Palladino answered. Then he added, “If you believe them.”
Van Allen is pregnant, and her boyfriend kept repeating “we want to do what’s best for our family,” Palladino said. To Palladino, that was code for We Want Money.
Heilingoetter pretended to be shocked by a couple looking out for its unborn child.
“They said that?” he keened. “How dare they? I can see what you mean. That is extortion at its best.”
“It certainly would be different if they’re talking about sending their family to Girl Scout camp,” Palladino responded. “It’s different when you’re talking about a $300,000 book deal.”
“So for your $15,000, you found out they wanted to do what’s best for their family,” Heilingoetter sneered. “Nice work, detective.”
Kelly’s defense team also brought out its own forensic video analyst. Charles Palm challenged the conclusions of Grant Fredericks, the prosecution’s tapehead. Fredericks identified a dark spot on the back of the man in the sex tape and called it identical to the mole on Kelly’s back. Palm claimed the spot was “noise,” or static, that showed up when the tape was transferred to DVD for analysis.
Palm also insisted that the tape could have been digitally altered, re-recorded on VHS, and copied several times to make the changes harder to detect. To prove his point, Palm played his own fake sex tape. It showed a headless couple osculating beside the hot tub. It was like a porno remake of Sleepy Hollow. A more entertaining idea, and one fitting with the Looney Tunes theme of Kelly’s basement? Morph the heads of Foghorn Leghorn and Yosemite Sam onto the couple. We’d like to see those two going at it.
For $250,000, Palm said, a skilled technician could produce a tape as convincing as the Gatorade ad in which old Michael Jordan goes one-on-one with young Michael Jordan, or the Coors ad with John Wayne directing two thirsty drifters to a bar. Watch and judge for yourself.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Did Barry Hankerson Release the Tape?
6/4/08
The Chicago Sun-Times, ordered by Judge Vincent Gaughan to turn over the notes of a 2002 interview between Jim DeRogatis and Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards, has done the court one better. The newspaper published the entire transcript on its website. Names of third parties have been replaced with initials, but it’s clear that “R.” is the alleged victim, and “B.H.” is Barry Hankerson, R. Kelly’s former manager, and the uncle of Aaliyah, who Kelly married when she was only 15. In the interview, DeRogatis speculates that Hankerson, who was openly upset by Kelly’s dallying with underage girls, played a role in making the tape public.
DeRogatis: What do you think happened with Aaliyah???
Edwards: Speculating? It happened. I have an ex-friend who was on the road with him when he was R. Kelly and Public Announcement. He saw what was going on. He quit the group because of that.
DeRogatis: I just want to know… [B.H.] is partly motivated by he's tired of seeing young girls get hurt...
Edwards: I'm sure. A lot of people would agree.
DeRogatis: But is it partly that [B.H.] wants revenge for the whole Aaliyah thing???
Edwards: I don't know. I'm sure he would tell ya. He'd have no problem telling you.
DeRogatis: He never has. I'm sure that tape came by [B.H.]. Not directly. He's wondering about the police investigation.
Read the entire interview here.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: The "Slutty Twin" Theory
6/3/08
To back it up, they’re exploiting a division in the girl’s family. One faction is allied with her parents, who refuse to admit that they’re daughter was filmed having sex with R. Kelly. The other faction is allied with Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards, the former R. Kelly protégé who had a falling out with the R&B star.
The three family member who took the stand Wednesday all denied the girl on the sex tape is the girl they know, even when stills from the tape were placed side by side with look-alike photos from a music video.
Shonna Edwards, the girl’s cousin, was a fellow member of 4 The Cause, a singing group that scored a hit record in Germany in 1998. Edwards roomed with the girl when the band toured Europe. Asked whether her cousin was the girl on the tape, Edwards replied, “No. It definitely wasn’t her.”
“Was the girl on the tape as developed as your cousin?” asked attorney Edward Genson, who’s trying to make a case out of the fact that the girl had big boobs for a 14-year-old.
“Not even close,” Edwards said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Shauna Boliker then showed Edwards two photos of the girl. The first was from a video shot while the band was on tour in 1998 of 1999. The second was from the sex tape. Both showed a girl’s left profile. The features were identical: turned-up nose, doughy chin and cheeks, hair cut to reveal an ear.
“Is it possible that the person who appears in People’s Exhibit 74 would also be the same person who appears in People’s Exhibit 76?” Boliker asked.
“Not at all,” Edwards replied.
Edwards’ father, Leroy Edwards Jr., was 4 The Cause’s manager. He agreed to testify for the defense at the urging of the girl’s parents -- his sister and brother-and-law. Shown a photo from the tape, Edwards paused, then said, “No, that’s not her.”
Kelly supported 4 The Cause’s career, attending a show at the members’ middle school, and inviting the group to his studio for an audition. The band’s first album, Stand By Me, includes this shout out in the liner notes: “To Robert Kelly, thanks for the audition and encouraging words.”
The R. Kelly trial has divided the Edwards family, Leroy admitted. Three family members -- Bennie Edwards Sr., Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards, and Bennie Edwards Jr., a bass player in Lionel Richie’s band -- all testified for the prosecution. Before the sex tape became public, in 2002, “we were close,” Leroy said, describing family gatherings straight out of the movie Soul Food. Now, as sibling have taken sides in the trial, some brothers and sisters no longer speak.
“Stephanie wanted to go to a lawyer to get money out of this tape, correct?” Genson asked Leroy Edwards.
“That was my belief,” he responded.
Earlier in the day, Jim DeRogatis finally took the stand, but pleaded the Fifth to every question. Judge Vincent Gaughan did force him to disclose his occupation.
“Your Honor,” DeRogatis stated, “I am the pop music critic of the Chicago Sun-Times and the co-host of a show on Chicago Public Radio.”
DeRo was willing to plug Sound Opinions, his indie-rock love fest. But he wouldn’t say jack about the sex tape.
6/3/08
Jim DeRogatis will finally get his day on the witness stand.
The Chicago Sun-Times music critic ducked his subpoena again Tuesday. Instead of showing up in court, as Judge Vincent Gaughan had ordered, DeRogatis sent a lawyer, who argued that the R. Kelly-dissing scribe had never been formally served with papers. Attorney Damon Dunn also insisted that DeRo could claim reporter’s privilege while appealing his summons to testify.
Gaughan at first threatened to issue a warrant for DeRogatis’s arrest (he can no doubt be found at tonight’s Death Cab for Cutie concert in Millenium Park). But then he decided to give the goateed, Hawaiian-shirt wearing drummer “the benefit of the doubt,” while ordering him to appear Wednesday. Barring a last-minute stay by the Illinois Appellate Court, the Lester Bangs acolyte will testify.
DeRogatis, who turned the sex tape over to police after receiving it from an anonymous tipster, will appear “as a material witness, and not as a reporter,” Gaughan said. DeRogatis won’t have to reveal where he got the tape, but will be asked about viewing it with Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards. He’ll also have to surrender his notes from that meeting. Gaughan, who kept pronouncing the critic’s name as “DeRagotis,” will review those notes before making them public.
The defense, which opens its case Wednesday, is planning to call another Kelly threesome partner to the stand — Adelina Prado, whose name came up during Lisa Van Allen’s testimony. Kelly’s lawyers will use Prado to make Van Allen look like an unreliable witness with a grudge against Kelly. It’s an iffy strategy. Linking Kelly to so many skanks makes the “Feelin’ On Yo Booty” crooner look … pretty skanky himself.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Threesome Girl
6/2/08
The woman who says she had a threesome with R. Kelly turned out to be skeezier than anyone imagined.
Lisa Van Allen was just 17 when she showed up at the video shoot for “Home Alone,” near her hometown of Atlanta. As an underage girl, Van Allen caught Kelly’s eye and was invited for a private audience in his trailer.
“We talked for a little while, then we had intercourse,” Van Allen described that first date.
A romance was born. Soon, Kelly was flying her to Chicago, giving her shopping money, and taking her on the “Get Up On A Room Tour,” where they had simulated sex onstage. Van Allen also braided Kelly’s hair in the “I Wish” video.
Simulated sex was OK. So was one-on-one sex. But Kelly wanted more, Van Allen testified. One night near the end of 1998, he took her to his house on Chicago’s North Side, where another teenage girl was waiting -- the girl who allegedly appears on the sex tape at the heart of this trial. Kelly set up his video camera, and “we engaged in sex, all three of us.”
Nearly a year later, Kelly tried to pressure Van Allen into another threesome with the girl. It was after an awards ceremony. When they returned to Kelly’s house, the girl was already there, and a futon mattress was flopped on Kelly’s basketball court.
“He set up his camera, we took off our clothes, and we all had sex again,” Van Allen said, crying and wiping her eyes as she recounted the act.
At the defense table, Kelly stared at the floor and shook his head.
“I started crying ’cause I didn’t want to do it,” Van Allen whispered. “He got upset and said he couldn’t watch that, couldn’t do anything with me crying. So he put the camera up.”
One of Kelly’s lawyers, Sam Adam Sr., portrayed Van Allen as a grifter who tried to extort money from Kelly. Under questioning, Van Allen admitted that she stole a $20,000 diamond Rolex from Kelly when he visited her in Atlanta.
Adam accused Van Allen of going to prosecutors only after Kelly broke his word to pay $250,000 for the return of a tape featuring one of their threesomes.
The tape was in the possession of a Kansas City man. According to Van Allen, the man flew to Chicago, where he met one of Kelly’s accountants, who paid only $40,000.
In February, Van Allen’s fiance, Yul Brown, was arrested for having a loaded AK-47 in his house. As a felon with a fraud conviction, Brown wasn’t allowed to own the weapon, Adam said. Shortly after the raid, he said, Brown and Van Allen called prosecutors in the Kelly case, offering inside info.
“You and Yul Brown cooked up the scheme about having you testify for R. Kelly to get him help on the gun charge,” Adam accused, noting that, soon after, Brown was given probation.
Van Allen is pregnant with Brown’s child. Damon Pryor, the father of her 5-year-old daughter, is the baby daddy who called Kelly’s attorneys last week, offering to discredit his ex. Pryor has his own shady past, having served time for bank fraud.
“Do you have something with men that they have to have a federal conviction for fraud?” Adam mocked.
Van Allen obviously has a thing for bad boys -- starting with R. Kelly.
It only seemed like a slow week in the R. Kelly trial. The baby daddy of Kelly’s alleged threesome partner called from Atlanta with information that shut down the trial for a day. A mole on Kelly’s back may be the tiny bit of evidence that convicts him. And a lawyer was hustled out of the courtroom for trying to foist his band’s CD on Kelly. Here’s a scorecard of who’s up and who’s down in Week Two.
Jim DeRogatis
The Chicago Sun-Times music critic will be forced to testify about showing the sex tape to former Kelly backup singer Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards. Attorney Marc Martin accused the writer of an “extreme bias” against Kelly. He may have a point. On Tuesday, DeRo’s column was headlined “Usher replaces R. Kelly as king of R&B.” It summed up Kelly’s new single, “Hair Braider,” as “simply inane.”
Vengeful baby daddies
Damon Pryor single-handedly shut down the trial by phoning defense attorneys with information he said would discredit Lisa Van Allen, the woman who claims she had a threesome with Kelly and his alleged teenage victim. Pryor, the father of Van Allen’s 5-year-old daughter, was flown from Atlanta to Chicago for a deposition. Van Allen’s testimony was delayed until Monday, frustrating a courtroom hoping to hear how Kelly doubles up.
Moles
Early in the trial, I thought Kelly’s smartest lifestyle choice was not getting a tattoo. That definitely would have ID’d him as a child pornographer. Turns out a tiny mole on his back may be enough. Kelly’s lawyers denied it was visible, but it showed up clearly on a digitized copy of the tape. 
Forensic video analysts
Yeah, that job sounds a lot nerdier than “R&B star.” And it was agonizing to listen to testimony about the factory codes on Maxell videotapes when we really wanted to hear about Kelly’s threesome. But the analyst who pointed out the mole has done more than any witness so far to prove that Kelly is the man on the sex tape.
Mike Roman and the Tellstars
An attorney who fronts a Santana cover band, Roman saw the R. Kelly trial as a great opportunity to get his music to an industry big-shot. While the judge conferred with attorneys in his chambers, Roman tried to hand Kelly his band’s latest CD, Cha Cha Time! Kelly declined, saying “I’m not allowed to talk to anyone.” Roman was led away by sheriff’s deputies, crying “I’m a lawyer and I’m a musician. What’s wrong with that?” The Tellstars didn’t get this much publicity playing Taste of Chicago.
[Jim DeRogatis photo credit: Marty Perez]
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: The Mole
5/29/08
The keystone of R. Kelly’s defense just crumbled.It’s a small mole on his lower back, the size and shape of a crushed housefly. During opening arguments, attorney Sam Adam Jr. showed the jury a photo of a shirtless Kelly, taken at a police station the day of his arrest. The mole was clearly visible.
“There’s a section of this tape where the man stands up and his back is illuminated,” Adam declared. “There is no mole. That means one thing. It is not Robert, or he’s some kind of magician.”
On Thursday, a forensic video expert played a digitized version of the tape. At the 18-minute mark, Kelly stood up, turned around and dropped his pants. The expert, Grant Fredericks, pointed his cursor at Kelly’s lower back. There was the mole.
“There’s a dark area above the spine and above the waistband a number of inches,” Fredericks pointed out. “There is a mark on the man’s back in the exact same position that is the mark on the man’s back in the [arrest] photo.”
Oops.
Kelly’s lawyers looked grim, like four men who knew the jig was up. On further questioning, Fredericks also demolished Kelly’s Little Man defense, dismissing the possibility that Kelly’s head was morphed onto another man’s body. The 26-minute tape consists of 96,000 images. Morphing a single frame would take an expert four hours, Fredericks said. Therefore, doctoring the entire tape would consume “44 years, working 24/7.” And even then it would look fake.
“Technology today couldn’t do that,” Fredericks said. “Not without detection.”
So that must mean Kelly’s a magician. He’d better be an escape artist, like Criss Angel, because the question in this trial is looking less like “guilty or not guilty?” and more like “Stateville, Dixon or Big Muddy?” -- three of Illinois’ baddest prisons.
Poll: How Screwed Is R. Kelly?
5/29/08
As the prosecution's case continues to mount, R. Kelly's hopes of getting out of his child pornography trial unscathed continue to dwindle. If you need a refresher on the day-to-day action, check out our exclusive coverage right here (featuring a dissection of "the tape" and the intricacies of the Little Man Defense, which claims "the tape" could be a savvy CGI concoction). Keeping in mind that the defense has yet to have its say, how bad do you think things are looking for the Trapped in the Closet crooner? Vote below:
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Threesome Blues
5/28/08
Have you ever been stood up for a threesome?Us neither, but that’s how a crowded courtroom felt Wednesday afternoon. The pews were jammed with spectators hoping to hear a woman testify she’d had three-way sex with R. Kelly and his jailbait girlfriend. Threesome Girl’s appearance had been trumpeted in the Chicago press, and the courtroom was salivating at the prospect of salacious tales usually confined to Kelly's albums.
But just after the lunch break, Kelly’s attorneys approached the bench with a bombshell. That morning, they’d received a phone call from a previously unknown witness, and insisted on flying him in to Chicago for a deposition before the trial could proceed. He was scheduled to arrive at Midway Airport at 6 p.m.
“The record should reflect that we never knew about this witness until nine o’clock this morning, when the witness called us,” attorney Sam Adam Sr. told Judge Vincent Gaughan. “It pertains to what we were going to have this afternoon,” he continued.
“It might be impeachment of this witness,” Gaughan responded. “The prosecution needs time to depose, so I want both sides to have time to depose.”
Although it was never spelled out, speculation is that the mystery witness has information that could discredit Threesome Girl’s testimony. While the new witness may not testify Thursday, he could give the defense information it can use to cross-examine the trois in Kelly’s ménage.
In the meantime, Courtroom 500 is suffering from a case of blue balls. To keep everyone aroused until tomorrow, here’s a track from R. Kelly’s upcoming album, 12 Play: Fourth Quarter. Its title? “Freak Show.”
[Photo Credit: This awesome Antarctica blog.]
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Kelly's Kartoon Korner
5/27/08
Boy, does R. Kelly love Space Jam. The movie featured Kelly's biggest hit, “I Believe I Can Fly,” and he used some of the royalties to pay for a giant Looney Tunes mural in the basement of his Chicago house.
At the center of the action: R. Kelly, in shades, going one-on-one with the Tasmanian Devil. Michael Jordan was the referee. A scoreboard announced R. KELLY 95, TAZ-D 93 with one second left in the fourth quarter. Wile E. Coyote sold concessions, Pepe LePew and Jessica Rabbit posed in the luxury boxes. In the cheap seats, Foghorn Leghorn raised a “Go R. Kelly” sign. Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Tweety and Marvin Martian didn’t declare an allegiance, but presumably, they were Kelly fans, since he was the home toon.
Chicago police Investigator Alexandra Guerrero saw Kelly’s Kartoon Korner when she visited the house to investigate allegations of child pornography.
“I remember seeing a basketball room and Disney characters,” Guerrero testified.
As her photographs were shown on the courtroom monitors, Kelly’s lead attorney, Edward Genson, offered a correction.
“Those aren’t Disney characters,” said Genson, a child of the 1940s. “They’re Looney Tunes characters. There’s Porky Pig!”
In other courtroom happenings, Kelly must have been thinking “Et tu, Lindsey?" as his former personal assistant testified against him. Lindsey Perryman, who began working for Kelly as an intern in his Chicago studio, and later assisted in the production of TP3 and “Trapped in the Closet,” told of seeing Kelly’s alleged teenage victim bring a pillow and an overnight bag for studio sleepovers. She also drove the girl to Kelly’s house, never imagining she was transporting jailbait. Perryman described Kelly as a “gentleman” who never behaved inappropriately toward woman. But she was “110% sure” that the video starred Kelly and the teenager.
“When I first saw it, number one, I was shocked,” Perryman said. “I would never want to think of Mr. Kelly acting like that. I’m still disturbed.”
Courthouse trivia: Kelly’s code name among sheriff’s deputies is “Package.”
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: But Is It Good Porn?
5/26/08
During this four-day break in the R. Kelly trial, let’s ask an important question about People’s Evidence No. 1, the sex tape allegedly starring Kelly: Is it good porn? Here, Blender grades the tape on all the essential elements of a skin flick.
Setting
The tape was shot in a wood-paneled, sauna-like chamber with a fern and a hot tub. Alleged Kelly called it his “Colorado Room,” but if your basement looked like this, your friends would call it the “Porno Room.” Grade: A
Music
In the first few minutes of the tape, we hear a radio play “Back All Right,” by the Backstreet Boys and “I Wanna” by the Spice Girls. Kells gets bumped up half a grade for grabbing the remote and turning off the late-90s pop treacle, but we’re disappointed he didn’t attempt his own soundtrack. Given what he did for New Jack Swing, he could have taken the grind-music genre beyond half-stoned lounge guitar and jazz flute.
While working on her debut album, Edwards told Kelly about her 12-year-old niece, who belonged to a Christian quartet called 4 the Cause.
“I asked her parents to bring her down because I wanted him to hear her rap,” she testified. Edwards also took her niece to watch a Chicago Bulls game at Kelly’s North Side house, where the tape was allegedly filmed.
“He liked her spirit,” Edwards said. “She was a very jolly person at the time, very personable, very liked, a little tomboyish. She was my heart.”
At that, Edwards began to cry, dabbing the corner of her eye with a long finger until a sheriff’s deputy handed her a box of tissues. It looked as though a tear was glistening on her cheek, but Sparkle was actually wearing press-on glitter, to go with her hoop earrings, ruffled blouse and high heels.
Edwards’s debut album, Sparkle, went platinum, but she and Kelly had a falling-out over her second. Edwards wanted to work with other producers, including her boyfriend. Kelly didn’t appreciate the competition -- musical or romantic. They parted ways -- amicably, Edwards testified -- and she signed with Motown.
In December 2001, Edwards received a phone call from a lawyer named Buddy Meyers, who said he had a tape of Kelly having sex with her niece. Meyers sent over an assistant to play it for Edwards. A few weeks later, she called the police.
Kelly’s lead attorney, Edward Genson, portrayed Edwards as a bitter music industry wash-out looking for money and revenge. First, he accused her of plotting with Kelly’s ex-manager, Barry Hankerson, who had a falling-out with Kelly shortly before the tape surfaced.
Then, Genson characterized Edwards’ family as a conspiracy of grifters and hos, looking for a payday from Kelly. Sparkle was defiant in defense of her blood.
“You have no idea if that tape was put together from old footage, tapes of other people, in order to make money off Robert,” Genson charged.
“That’s Robert and [my niece] on that tape,” Edwards said. “I know my family.”
“You know and believe [your niece] had Robert give her money to have sex,” Genson said, referring to a scene in which the amateur pornographer alleged to be Kelly gives the girl a stack of bills, just before she gives him a blowjob.
“Just like he made her do,” Edwards said. “She’s a robot in that video.”
“He passed her money --”
“Like a prostitute,” Edwards spat.
“You were caught trying to get money from R. Kelly,” Genson scolded. “Sweetie,” Edwards snapped back, “I am not trying to get any money from this.”
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trail: The Waynas Bros. Defense
5/21/08Suppose you’re a backup singer for an R&B star with a fondness for teenage girls. He writes, produces and duets on your only hit. But then you have a falling out. He continues his brilliant career, going to #1 on the R&B charts with "Fiesta." You record a failed album for Motown, and slide into the dustbin of '90s pop.
So, jilted songbird, how do you get back at your Svengali? Easy. You use your Hollywood-level video morphing skills to graft the heads of the R&B star and your 13-year-old niece onto the bodies of a freaky, golden-shower-loving couple. Then you give the creation to a lawyer who can sue your boy’s ass.
That’s what R. Kelly’s defense team wants the jury to believe. They’re arguing that Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards, whose 1998 song “Be Careful” was a Kelly joint, tried to set him up for extortion by producing a doctored sex tape.
Edwards performed on Aaliyah’s Age Ain’t Nuthin But A Number, and released an album on Kelly’s label, Rockland Records, but is now a backup singer in Toni Braxton's Las Vegas revue. Edwards’ niece, who is allegedly the girl on the sex tape, also had a brief music career with the group 4 the Cause. You’ve probably never heard of 4 the Cause, but their cover of Ben E. King's “Stand By Me” reached #2 in Germany in 1998. (A German reporter covering the trial explained that 4 the Cause was as well known in her country as “the singers on that talent show,” meaning American Idol. In other words: one-hit wonders.)
One of Kelly’s attorneys, Sam Adam Jr., advanced the tape-as-revenge theory while questioning Delores Gibson, Edwards’ former sister-in-law. Gibson, who is also a Chicago police officer, was with the Edwards family in December 2001, when they first viewed the tape. Adam questioned why Gibson didn’t seize the tape as evidence of child pornography.
“You knew an attorney was called and you would get paid,” he accused. “You knew this was a ploy for Sparkle to get back at Mr. Kelly.”
Adam, who declared the tape “phony,” was less convincing when he tried to prove it was a special-effects masterpiece.
“Have you ever seen the movie Little Man by the Wayman Brothers?” he asked Simha Jamison, a girlhood friend of the alleged victim. Jamison had already identified the girl on the tape as her friend, at the age of 13 or 14.
“Sorry,” Adam continued. “The Wayans Brothers. They took the head of Marlon Wayans and put it on a midget, and it looked real, didn’t it?”
“Not really,” Jamison shot back.
The courtroom busted out laughing. Judge Vincent Gaughan reminded Adam that buying a $9 movie ticket doesn’t make anyone an editing-room wizard.
“Just because she’s seen the Wayman Brothers doesn’t make her an expert on video morphing,” Gaughan said.
He was as square as the lawyer, but a lot more sensible.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Jurors Watch "The Tape"
5/21/08
When the jury filed into Courtroom 500, a TV big enough to do any sports bar proud was already in place. R. Kelly’s child pornography trial would begin with a showing of The Tape.
The reviews came first.
“Vile and disgusting,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Shauna Boliker, in her opening argument. “You will see that underage child performing acts that you have never seen before. Everything was written, directed and choreographed by Robert Kelly.”
“I observed several sexual acts,” testified Dan Everett, the retired Chicago police detective who arrested Kelly in 2002. “The first being the male adult subject. His penis was inserted into the underage girl’s mouth.”
Deputies dimmed the lights, and lawyers helped twist shut the blinds, blocking the noon sun.
“Are you ready?” Judge Vincent Gaughan asked.
Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Heilingoetter put People’s Exhibit No. 1 into a VCR and pushed play. A clear, glossy picture of a wood-paneled basement flashed into view. The man the prosecution alleges to be R. Kelly (hereafter known as Alleged Kelly) was seen handing money to a girl. She mouthed “thank you,” and, the action unfolded exactly as Dectective Everett described it.
The scene shifted. The girl danced atop the hot tub cover, naked except for a silver crucifix between her breasts. “Dance faster, baby,” Alleged Kelly gasped. The soundtrack? The Backstreet Boys’ “Back to Your Heart.”
Next, the couple were on a bench, beside a hot tub. The girl was on top of Alleged Kelly, moaning, calling him “daddy.” The soundtrack? The Spice Girls. (The man likes his teen pop. Or maybe his partner did.)
The sex lasted six or seven minutes. By the end, the bench was squeaking. But Alleged Kelly wasn’t finished. He walked out of the picture, and returned wearing orange warmup pants around his knees. Even if you’ve never seen a bootleg R. Kelly sex tape, you can probably guess what happened next: Alleged Kelly proceeded to urinate on the girl. Her mouth was open. Urine ran down her chin.
Still not done. Next: the money shot itself.
Most jurors watched impassively, but an old Eastern European immigrant leaned back in his chair, wincing, while a black man with a mop of curls rocked back and forth uneasily. In the gallery, a deputy stared at the floor. A young woman sat with her arms and legs crossed tightly, a hard look of disgust on her face.
Kelly looked on from the defense table, his head tilted, his index finger poking his chin. He was silent, and it was impossible to say what he was thinking. We have only the words of his lawyer, Sam Adam Jr., spoken a few moments before the lights went down.
“Robert Kelly,” Adam declared, “is not on that tape.”
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: The Kelly Girls
5/16/08
Every morning, fans and curiosity seekers gather outside the Cook County Criminal Courthouse to watch R. Kelly do his 8:45 perp strut. Blender spoke with a few.
Jerhonda Johnson, 18, Streamwood, Illinois Blender: I saw you in front of the courthouse last week.
Johnson: I've been coming out here every single day.
Blender: Why are you supporting him?
Johnson: Because I’m a very dedicated fan. He’s not guilty. I don’t think that tape is authentic. It don’t look like him. I don’t think he’d do something like that.
Blender: What would you say if he asked you out?
Johnson: Yes! He ain’t even gotta finish the sentence.
Blender: What if he wanted to tape you?
Johnson: Just don’t let it go public.
Keyonia Jones, 23, Chicago Along with her friend Johnson, Jones stands in front of the courthouse every morning and calls “I love you” at Kelly. Before Blender could begin this interview, a mother with two children scolded the pair. “I’m gonna pray for you all," she said. "He’s going to jail, ’cause he’s a motherfuckin’ child molester.”
Jones: If you 13 or 14 and you grown up enough to get down with a grown man you weren’t raised the right way. When I was 14, I had my head in the books. If your body look like you’re 18, you’ll be treated like you’re 18. I ain’t met a man yet that asked, ‘Can I see your ID?’
Satoris Whitfield, 35, ChicagoBlender: Why are you here?
Whitfield: I’m out here to see R. Kelly. Just to ask him, ‘Why, why, Kelly? I’m your age.’ He with somebody my daughter’s age.
Blender: Are you still a fan of his music?
Whitfield: He got the bomb on the music. But he's in one hot mess now.
Blender: You say he should be with someone his own age. Would you go out with him?
Whitfield: Now? No. But before, yeah.
Latonya Rowan, 34, Grand Rapids, MichiganBlender: Do you think he did it?
Rowan: If he did it, he should pay for it. I don’t think it should be a one-way street, though. If she says she was 18, he probably should have looked and said, ‘She’s not 18.’ But she lied.
Blender: So she’s got some responsibility, too?
Rowan: Yeah. Just ’cause you famous, should you have to ask for ID to have intercourse?
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: A Jury of His Peers?5/15/08
R. Kelly suffered a defeat in his child pornography trial, 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 the 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.”
Nonetheless, 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 situation, 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 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.
The trial begins next Tuesday, with opening arguments.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: Analyzing the Jury
5/15/08
The men and women (12 jurors, 2 alternates) who will decide R. Kelly's fate have been chosen. Here's a quick rundown of the group and a few interesting facts about them:
+ Composition: eight white, four African American; eight male, four female.
+ The final juror is apparently a rape victim. The defense tried to get her dismissed but they ran out of their seven peremptory strikes and Judge Vincent Gaughan wouldn't grant them an eighth.
+ The defense accused the prosecution of going after white jurors.
+ Overall, the jury selection seems to have been won by the prosecution.
Keep checking back for our daily updates from the R. Kelly trial.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: The Cast of Characters
5/14/08
R. Kelly isn’t the only colorful character at his child pornography trial. Here’s an introduction to the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense lawyer -- along with the actors who’ll play them if the R. Kelly Sex Tape is ever expanded into a feature film.
 Courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures |
Will be played by: Jack Nicholson
 Courtesy of Picturehouse |
Will be played by: Meg Ryan
 Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures |
Will be played by: Michael Caine.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: From Capone to Kelly5/13/08
The courthouse complex where R. Kelly will stand trial for child pornography is already part of pop culture history. It’s where B.B. King recorded “Live in Cook County Jail,” and where Al Capone, inspiration to countless rappers, was locked up while awaiting a trip to Alcatraz. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose artwork appeared on an Acid Bath album cover, and who gave two-thirds of his name to Marilyn Manson’s keyboard player, was sentenced to death here in 1980.
The Romanesque edifice calls itself, in chiseled letters, COOK COVNTY CRIMINAL COVRT HOVSE. But Chicagoans know it as “26th and California,” after the forlorn corner it dominates. Because of its classical styling, and gangster vintage -- it was built in 1928, at the height of Chicago’s Mob Wars -- 26th and Cal also has a niche in cinema, as a location for the movies Ali, Primal Fear, and The Fugitive.
Kelly is the biggest celebrity ever to go on trial here. To prepare for a media invasion, Judge Vincent Gaughan visited Los Angeles to consult with the officials who oversaw Michael Jackson’s child molestation case. As a result, 26th and Cal has a brand-new Information Desk in the lobby, metal detectors outside Courtroom 500, and armed deputies roaming the 5th floor. Every morning, Kelly walks past a photographer’s bullpen that should get red-carpet crowded once the trial begins.
26th and Cal is an unglamorous site for an event that’s attracting worldwide interest. It's in an isolated neighborhood, where the only restaurant is a Popeye’s with a “Welcome Jurors” sign. If you’re in a hurry, the courthouse snack shop fries up bacon and eggs every morning, permeating the building with a warm, greasy lunchroom aroma.
The Cook County Jail is the largest pre-trial holding pen in the country, with nearly 10,000 prisoners. Behind snarls of glittering razor wire, inmates in tan jumpsuits shoot hoops. Kelly plays ball at a gym near his suburban mansion, but if he’s convicted, he too could be tossing the jailhouse rock.
R. Kelly Sex Trial: Significant 695/12/08
R. Kelly sat in the corner of the jury room, pressing a Kleenex against his face to block out a familiar odor: urine. A heavy rain had flooded the Prohibition-era courthouse’s pipes, and Kelly was seated near the men’s room as he watched the first day of jury selection in his child pornography trial. After several reeking hours, a sheriff’s deputy was called in with a can of Lysol.
Jury selection was hardly more pleasant for Kelly. Several citizens who might have been sympathetic to his case were sent home with a check for $17.20 and a thank you from Judge Vincent Gaughan. One elderly man was dismissed after he remarked that “nature has already provided an age of consent: puberty.”
Then there was the star-struck woman who called Kelly “the Pied Piper. I hear he’s a musical genius.”
“You can say negative stuff,” the judge prodded.
“Him and Jay-Z don’t get along,” she allowed.
Another guy was so eager to serve on Kelly’s jury that he offered to cancel a flight to visit his parents on Memorial Day. Asked if he could guarantee Kells a fair trial, he vowed “Yes!” Asked if he could give the prosecution a fair trial, he hesitated, then mumbled, “Probably.”
Three jurors were chosen today. 1) A Baptist minister’s wife. 2) A telecommunication company employee who attends the Christian Life Center who says he hates seeing skin magazines behind the counter at 7-Eleven. Only the final juror offered a promising omen for Kelly. 3) He’s a father of two who knows the R&B star from “music, entertainment, media, and child pornography.” His juror number? 69.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: It's on!5/9/08
Even before R. Kelly arrived for his child pornography case this morning, his case was being tried on the courthouse steps.
“He had an obligation to be responsible with this girl,” argued Najee Ali, who held a sign reading “R. Kelly, World’s Greatest Pedophile.
“Is he supposed to be asking every female, ‘Can I see your ID?’” shot back Jerhonda Johnson, an 18-year-old Kelly fan from the Chicago suburbs, adding “She could have said no.”
“He could have said no,” Ali countered. “We wouldn’t be here today.”
Then, as a news helicopter chuddered overhead, Kelly’s Cadillac Escalade pulled up to the curb. The singer’s bodyguards led him up a ramp, past a paparazzi firing squad, and through a special R. Kelly entrance.
Inside the courtroom, Kelly sat in a freshly-varnished pew, pensively gnawing his lower lip while lawyer Marc Martin made one last-ditch appeal to delay his case, on the grounds that pre-trial news stories had “poisoned” the minds of potential jurors.
This morning’s Chicago Sun-Times -- the paper that first publicized Kelly’s alleged sex tape, six years ago -- led off with the headline “R. KELLY WITNESS PAID OFF.” The story claimed that a woman set to testify that she joined in a threesome with Kelly and his teenage victim was given money to return a sex tape to the singer. The details were leaked from a closed hearing.
“It is our position that the jury pool has been irreparably poisoned,” Martin thundered, hamming it up for justice in a voice of outrage last heard the night Matlock was cancelled. The story, he said, "is in every box in Cook County. It will be seen by everyone. Driving into court, I heard it on the radio. Putting on my tie, I saw it on the news.”
Judge Vincent Gaughan didn’t buy it, and ordered jury selection to proceed as scheduled. Lawyers begin questioning jurors next Monday. Some courtroom observers believe the case will be won or lost in this phase, as prosecutors seek to fill the panel with citizens likely to be revulsed by a tape that allegedly shows a 6-foot-1-inch R&B star having sex with a teenage girl.
It's not that everyone isn't repulsed. The crazy fans aren't convinced it's him.
R. Kelly Sex Tape Trial: The Prologue
5/8/08
Now, you’re going to find out whether the R. Kelly Sex Tape was the real deal (and whether you’d better get rid of it). A decade after he allegedly filmed himself shagging and urinating on a teenage girl in his wood-paneled rumpus room, R. Kelly is going on trial for child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Friday in what will be the latest contest between a player-hating prosecutor and a louche, over-sexed celebrity -- think Errol Flynn, Chuck Berry, Bill Clinton, and Michael Jackson.
Usually, the celebrities win. (Sorry, Chuck.) The odds in this case favor Kelly. Both he and his alleged victim are expected to claim that those were, uh, two other people on that tape. To counter that, prosecutors are calling on a forensic expert to testify that the vein patterns of the man on the tape match the vein patterns on Kelly’s hands, and that the girl has the body of a 14-year-old. Do I hear "reasonable doubt"? Plus, thanks to the decade-long delay, the girl is now a woman in her 20s. Up on the witness stand, she won’t look like the violated waif who inspired the charges.
The prosecution does have a witness who will testify she was the third party in a menage a trios with Kelly and the girl. Whether or not her testimony helps the state’s case, it should give us the sweaty details of what Kelly was singing about on "Double Up." And that may be the point. Even if the state can’t convict Kelly in court, it can bring the skankiest aspects of his sex life to a crossover audience. None of the revelations will shock Kelly’s fans, who stood by him after his wedding to then-15-year-old Aaliyah, and thought he was brilliant when he peopled Trapped in the Closet, his I’m-making-it-up-as-I-go-along soap opera, with an adulterous midget and a bisexual preacher. But after this trial, we may not hear "I Believe I Can Fly" at as many high school graduations.
R. Kelly’s trial will also allow us into the lubricious world of an R&B star, where fame can give a grown man a pass on adulthood. Kelly has lived the life all us guys fantasized when we were 14 -- with the same 14-year-old girls we were fantasizing about.
Unrestrained priapism is a perk of success. Entertainers wench like sultans, but few have been jailed for their kinkiness. Usually, they buy their victims’ silence. Kelly has done it himself, spending $250,000 to settle a lawsuit with a 15-year-old group sex partner. The Big Question in this trial: "If you’re rich, talented and famous, can you piss on anyone you want?" We’ll know the answer in a few weeks. Watch The Blender Blog for daily trial coverage.
