Monday, May 12, 2008 11:32pm EST
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Finally, a trial
Staff Reporter | Posted May 9, 2008 8:47 AM
Nine years after the police investigation and six years after he was indicted for engaging in criminal sexual behavior with an underage girl, R&B singer R. Kelly goes on trial today...we think. Jury selection begins in the Chicago trial this morning just as news emerges that the singer may have tried to bribe a key witness in the trial.
The trial begins at 9 a.m. Central time today with news accounts swirling in the media that an aide to R. Kelly allegedly paid off an Atlanta woman to get her to return a potentially incriminating sex videotape featuring Kelly. The woman is scheduled to be a witness against Kelly in the trial.
But get this. there may be another delay in the trial if Kelly has his way. His defense team has asked Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan to postpone the trial because of recent publicity surrounding the case.
Robert Sylvester Kelly, 41, was indicted on multiple counts of child pornography in June 2002, three years after police began investigating the case against him. But through a series of delays, the trial has been put off for years.
Kelly's alleged involvement with young girls reportedly dates back to the 1990s, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported on the current investigation in a December 2000 story. But the public interest in the case reached a peak after a videotape was sent anonymously to the newspaper in February 2002. The tape showed a man alleged to be Kelly engaging in various sex acts -- including urinating on the underage girl.
Prosecutors are expected to introduce a key witness in the trial who will testify that she, Kelly and the girl engaged in a threesome on at least one occasion, and that the girl was under the age of consent. The girl was as young as 13 sometime between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000, when the tape was made, according to prosecutors.
But the girl herself has denied her involvement in the affair, according to the Chicago Tribune. That means prosecutors will have the challenge of portraying the alleged victim as a liar, which some observers have called a "heavy burden."
The trial is expected to generate considerable media attention, and Kelly has his own special entrance into the courtroom, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The singer, who has created hits like "Bump n' Grind," "Your Body's Callin'," "Step in the Name of Love," "Fiesta," "Half on a Baby," and the recent hit, "Same Girl," has shown many different sides to his music.
Kelly's music could be inspirational, as it was in the 1996 hit, "I Believe I Can Fly," or it could be crass and direct, as it was in songs like "Feelin' On Yo Booty," and "Trapped in the Closet."
He has a strong fan base in Chicago, but he's been publicly criticized in his hometown as well. His notoriety may be an issue as the court begins the process of jury selection.
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Annabella commented on Finally, a trial:
Sorry, this has nothing to do with race, and, to keep it real, 75% or more of all teen girls under 1... -
brucito commented on Finally, a trial:
@Monie...Not all of the women in those videos are underage. At least those that are in the DVD's tha... -
Anonymous commented on Finally, a trial:
Monie, For years BET brought "Child Porn" into homes between 1am and 4am on the regular. 18 Year ol... -
Monie commented on Finally, a trial:
As the guy said to Nino Brown in New Jack City....R.Kelly your soul is required in HELL! @Brucito.... -
brucito commented on Finally, a trial:
R. Kelly is a great singer and performer. Unfortunately his ego and arrogance are his biggest enemie...
May 9, 2008 12:34 PM
Its about time, and, I knew he had been paying these people off, that's the main reason they have been so uncooperative. I just how they have a strong enough case to convict if those nasty allegations are true.
May 9, 2008 12:40 PM
R. Kelly is a great singer and performer. Unfortunately his ego and arrogance are his biggest enemies.
I have seen several of those sex tapes he is on and trust me this dude has some serious sexual issues to deal with. On every tape I saw his body language and facial expressions are saying "look eveyone. This tape will prove I am not gay". After you see it a second time you really don't know who to feel sorrier for. Her or him.
May 9, 2008 1:18 PM
As the guy said to Nino Brown in New Jack City....R.Kelly your soul is required in HELL!
@Brucito....How did you feel viewing Child Porn? Why do people forget those tape are child porn.
May 9, 2008 3:02 PM
Monie, For years BET brought "Child Porn" into homes between 1am and 4am on the regular. 18 Year old girls in G Strings Assed out shaking their butts on poles, viewed by 10, 12, 14 years olds is simply another form of "Child Porn", is it not?
Did you know NBA Basketball Superstar Karl Malone fathered twins when he was 19 years old, the girl/mother was 13 years old.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/story/334471.html
The fact is Karl Malone was 18, the girl was 12, when he has sex with her and got her pregnant, and there is a child alive from that act of child porn and rape. A 12 year old cannot consent, period and there is clear proof 18 year old Karl had sex with the 12 year old girl.
Where's the long arm of the law? What's the difference between Karl Malone & R Kelly? Isn't an actual living breathing baby with DNA stronger evidence of sex with a minor than video tape?
I hope R Kelly "gets off" (pardon the pun). Why? White female teachers that have sex with their male minor students get off all the time, it's a matter of standard practice when you're white, and female.
I would love for the Judge to parallel R Kelly's punishment to the same level of some of those Florida Female teachers that have sex with their students (slap on the wrist and probation).
Why? I see no reason why "The System" should treat Young Black Men any differently than it treats White Women for basically the same offense.
I love his music, think he's a musical genius, I know he's illiterate, an egomaniac and an overall terrible person, he's a creep. As a person I think he's of horrible character.
However this is about Young Black Men being treated on par by the judicial system as White women. It's that simple.
May 9, 2008 3:31 PM
@Monie...Not all of the women in those videos are underage. At least those that are in the DVD's that I saw being hawked by street vendors on 125th between Frederick Douglas Blvd and St. Nicholas Ave. for $10 a piece now that the story is back in the news. A one hour per day workout on a cross skier machine at a gym would also take some of the wooble out of that unshapely ass of his too.
For those of you who can't get a copy of it be thankful. You have not missed anything at all but the vidoe footage of a fool who should have know if that shit ever got out it would be the end of him and a damn good career.
May 9, 2008 5:33 PM
Sorry, this has nothing to do with race, and, to keep it real, 75% or more of all teen girls under 18 who get pregnant are by men over the age of 18 and many are in their 20's.
Someone who rapes a child be a it a boy by a teacher or a priest or a girl but a grown, nasty man with obvious sexuality issues deserves jail time, but a fair hearing.
And, while the system is not fair to young black men, they know they are not going to be treated the same, and, should have enough sense in a case like this not to have a freaky, sick thing with teen girls.