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R. Kelly Jurors See Graphic Sex Tape

By MICHAEL TARM, AP

Posted: 2008-05-20 19:21:23

Filed Under: Celebrities in Court, Star Scandals, Music News

CHICAGO (May 20) - Prosecutors played the sex tape at the center of R. Kelly's child pornography trial in open court Tuesday, just hours after opening statements in which they accused the R&B singer of choreographing and starring in the footage with an underage girl.

R&B Star on Trial

Supporters and protestors clashed on Friday outside the court where jury selection has begun in R. Kelly's child pornography trial. The case, which has been delayed six years, centers around a videotape that allegedly shows the singer having sex with a girl as young as 13 or 14.

Frank Polich, Reuters

The 41-year-old star was flanked by security guards as he arrived at the Chicago courtroom. Prosecutors say they have identified the girl in the tape, who is now in her 20s. Kelly's lawyers claim the alleged victim will say she's not the girl on the tape.

John Gress, Reuters

Kelly has pleaded not guilty and won't say if it's him on the tape. But according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the FBI has confirmed its authenticity. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. His hits include 'Bump N' Grind' and 'I Believe I Can Fly.'

Frank Micelotta, Getty Images

The jurors, who had been taking feverish notes during opening statements, sat motionless while the video played. Their eyes were fixed on a 4-by-4-foot monitor just outside the jurors' box; in the courtroom, the lights were dimmed and blinds drawn across windows.

A grim-looking Kelly, 41, appeared to watch the entire footage intently on a small monitor on the defense table. He occasionally rocked in his chair and rested his chin in his hand.

Before playing the tape, the prosecution entered it into the record as "People's Exhibit No. 1. "

The 27-minute homemade video shows a man having sex with a young female, who is naked for most of the recording except for a necklace with a cross dangling from it.

At the start of the videotape, the man hands the female money and she mouths the words, "Thank you." She is often blank-faced, impassive. The man speaks to the female in a hushed, monotone voice, and she calls him "Daddy."

Songs from the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys blare from a radio. The female dances - the man out of view. Back in view, he has sex with her. The man walks up to the camera to adjust it a few times, but his face is often obscured.

Prosecutors say the man in the video is Kelly, and that the female is a girl who was as young as 13 when the tape was made between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000.

The singer, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted.

During opening statements in the long-delayed trial, Cook County prosecutor Shauna Boliker warned jurors they would have to watch a videotape depicting an "underage child performing sex acts that you have never seen before."

"A child doesn't choose to be violated and placed on a videotape, a videotape that will live on forever - long after this child becomes an adult," Boliker said.

Defense attorneys, however, told jurors in their opening statements that Kelly is not the man on the tape and called the video's origins into question. The defense also told jurors that the girl who authorities allege is depicted on the tape is not her at all.

That's a claim that's also been made by the 23-year-old woman prosecutors say was a minor at the time of the taping. She denies she's the girl on the video.

The trial has been delayed repeatedly since the tape was mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002. The newspaper turned it over to authorities, and Kelly was indicted later that year.

Boliker repeatedly referred to the female depicted in the tape as a "child" and Kelly by his birth name of Robert Kelly. She alleged that the singer took advantage of the inherent trust children place in adults, and that the female on the tape performed acts that Kelly "commanded" her to perform.

The videotape, she said, is "child pornography that was created, staged, produced and starred in by the defendant that sits before you, Robert Kelly."

Boliker told jurors the state will not be calling the alleged victim to the stand. She did not explain why - an issue defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. was quick to exploit in his opening statements, asking jurors why prosecutors wouldn't call her as a witness.

"One answer," he said. "One: It's not her on that tape."

Adam also tried to raise questions about the tape itself, saying no one knows where it originated before it showed up at the Sun-Times. The videotape in evidence, he said, is "at best a copy of a copy of a copy" and that Kelly is not the man on the tape.

"Not a single witness can tell you that is him on the tape," Adam said. He also said the FBI could not identify the man on the tape as Kelly.

Adam did make it clear what he wanted jurors doing when they watched videotape: Looking for a mole on the man's back.

Kelly has a "significant" mole in the middle of his lower back that has been there since childhood, Adam said, even displaying a photo of Kelly's back and the dime-sized mole on courtroom monitors.

Adam said jurors wouldn't find the mole on the back of the man in the videotape.

"There is no mole on his back," Adam said. "Robert isn't that man on the tape."

Adam also told jurors the female that prosecutors claim is depicted on the video "is not a victim because she is not the girl on that tape." Instead, he suggested the woman in the video is a "professional prostitute" because the man in the video is seen handing her money.

Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for the gospel-tinged "I Believe I Can Fly," and is also known for such songs as "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition," and "Trapped in the Closet," a multipart saga about the sexual secrets of a lively and ever-expanding cast of characters.

Also Tuesday, jurors heard from retired Chicago police investigator Dan Everett, who said he and his partner were sent to the Sun-Times building in February 2002 after a reporter received a VHS videotape the newspaper wanted to turn over to police.

Everett told jurors what he and his partner witnessed on the sex tape, but he also testified that he knew the female depicted in it was an underage girl because he had interviewed her as part of an earlier investigation.

At that point, Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan called a sidebar outside the jury's presence and threatened to declare a mistrial because Everett had been instructed not to use the word "investigation."

Everett did not say what the previous investigation involved.

Gaughan scolded Everett, saying he'd made an egregious mistake that violated the judge's court order and said he would declare a mistrial if the word was used again in reference to the earlier interview.

Everett told the jury when it returned that he had interviewed the young female on Dec. 5, 2000, 14 months before he began investigating the videotape.

Jury selection finished last week with prosecutors and defense attorneys accusing each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines. Eight of the seated jurors were white and four were black, and that remained the jury's racial makeup after a white female juror was replaced Tuesday morning by one of four alternates, a white male.

Associated Press Writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2008-05-20 07:00:33

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32 comments

sweetjoy1994 09:18:22 PM May 28 2008

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r kelly may have done some bad thingz b4, but datz not him on da tape...........do u see all dat evidence dey need 2 plead him not guilty and get it over wit

ladynblk021 08:19:22 AM May 27 2008

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For all those who think kelly is guilty f....off why would he need a lil girl to get off when women all over the country want him.This man makes the best r-b music he knows how to get a woman not a child .Keep y head up kelly .

javenger842 02:53:40 AM May 27 2008

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I'VE BEEN A FAN OF R. KELLY SINCE THE T.V. SHOW BIG BREAK WHEN HE WAS,
KNOWN A PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS, HE'S NOT THE
ONLY ARTIST WHO HAVE SEXUAL MUSIC OUT THEIR. NOW I DON'T CARE FOR THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR BUT WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE ANYONE....THE YOUNG LADY SAID IT WASN'T HER. JUST REMEMBER WITH ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY TODAY PEOPLE WOULD DO ANYTHING TO BRING SO ONE DOWN. KEEP YOUR HEAD UP KELL'S GOD'S GOT YOUR BACK. NOT GUILTY BECAUSE JUDGEMENT BELONGS TO HIM AND HIS SON. :) #1 FAN

albquerque8 07:02:06 PM May 24 2008

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I see it like this, no one was there but tha two people in tha video.so how does anybody even know who the people in the video are? If people would mind there own buisness there would be a whole lot less bull-shit in tha world so.....................people, mind ya own and stay out of other peoples shit!!!!!!!!

missmnj225 08:35:20 PM May 22 2008

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He's a brilliant musical talent! HOWVER, I did see the special on MTV and if that wasn't tampered with, THAT WAS HIM!!!!!!! So yea, guilty before proven! His supporters are the reason he and other celebrities get away with things like this! I been stop buying his music when it first came out! He needs to be imprisoned for a long time! And his attorneys use of rhyming words will never get him to Johnny Cochran status-smh-lame

huckelberry68 04:54:12 PM May 21 2008

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I have only one thing to say about R. Kelly. Black or white, the man is a dirt bag. FRY THE BASTARD!!!

DwayneRDR 04:51:51 PM May 21 2008

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I have not seen the tape because that would be a criminal act on my part; It is against to LAW to have in your possesion a child pornography tape/dvd, magazine, etc. So all of you who have seen it; you 2 are crinimanls as well; just not in the same degree. Did you think about that? Also, I am an industry person who has spoken with plenty of people who know R. Kelly on many different relationship levels and not one of them have stated that the person committing the criminal acts was not the person in Question, Not One!

brophydude44 04:42:06 PM May 21 2008

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ONCE AGAIN I NED TO TELL YOU TO DO A JOB

brophydude44 04:41:03 PM May 21 2008

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I CAN'T BELIEVE SOME OF YOU PEVERTS UP TOP STICKING UP FOR THIS MONSTER PIECE OF SH_T,YOUR EITHER PEDOS YOUSELF,AND HAVE PURCHASED WORSE ,AND THIS IS NOTHING ,OR YOUR STICKING UP FOR HIM THE WAT PEOPLE WER STICKING UP FOR OJ ,JUST CANT BELIEVE IT,OR YOUR IQ'S ARE BELOW 110,HE SHOUL GO TO JAIL THER IS A VERY BIG REASON THS CASE TOOK 10 YEARS TO GO TO COURT ,CAUSE DEFENSE WAS WAITING OUT THE POSSIBILITIES,SOMEONE WOULD DIE,SOMEONE WOULD MOVE OUTOF THE COUNTRY,BOTTOM LINE MEMORY,THINGS THEY CANT REMEMBER,THAT IS THE BIG ONE IT ,ALONE THROWS DOUBT ONLY HIGH PAYED LAWYERS CAN GET AWAY WITH AJOURNMENT AFTER AJOURNMENT,SORRY FOR TYPOS

ilostmypopsicle 02:28:11 PM May 21 2008

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Lock up this no talent scum.

wcoll 02:15:40 PM May 21 2008

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Go to this website to learn some of this sicko's history... He has already settled two cases involving underage girls and even married a 15 year old.

This guy is a pig.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Kelly

latoyatduncan 12:48:05 PM May 21 2008

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Lawers=Liars

rmcgregor02 12:11:49 PM May 21 2008

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Amazing how many people are admitting to watching child porn out in the open on this forum, you all are one... disgusting and two, under the microscope by the authorities now, as you should be!

rmcgregor02 12:08:54 PM May 21 2008

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jenk72 11:29:51 AM May 21 2008

Report This! I saw the tape before it was clear she was a mminor and the girl on the tape appears to be relaxed and it certainly was not the first time she had had sex. She appeared to be sober and had stretch marks etc. I truly thought she was at least 18.

____________

Bad bad bad.

Regarding the case -- if this is all the info and it's accurate, there's no way Kelly can be convicted. The state has the burden of proof and they have none. They have circumstance and possibilities; what they don't have, is a case.

jenk72 11:29:51 AM May 21 2008

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I saw the tape before it was clear she was a mminor and the girl on the tape appears to be relaxed and it certainly was not the first time she had had sex. She appeared to be sober and had stretch marks etc. I truly thought she was at least 18.

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