Article Author:
Associated Press
Michael Tarm And Don Babwin
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CHICAGO (AP) — Federal trial on allegations that R. Kelly rigged 2008 state child pornography trial and solicited girls for sex. The R&B singer's "dark" and "hidden" side, prosecutors told jurors Wednesday.
U.S. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Julian said in opening remarks that many in the world know Kelly's hit "I Believe I Can Fly." said. Julian said it was "Kelly's public side", adding that "Kelly had another side...a hidden side, a dark side."
"This ordeal is about Kelly's hidden side," Julian said.
Kelly was indicted and acquitted in federal court in his hometown of Chicago on charges of soliciting a minor for sex, creating child pornography, and manipulating a 2008 porn trial. became.
Julian tried to make the jury feel the scale of Kelly's exploits, and Kelly said she had "repeatedly" had sex with girls aged 14, 15 and 16. "Several girls, hundreds of times".
Both the prosecution and Kelly's legal team gave judges at the beginning of the week about 1 each to tell jurors about the types of evidence they could expect to see and hear. He said he wanted time.The evidence phase of the federal trial is expected to last about a month.
Kelly's attorneys for her two co-defendants will also address jurors before the government begins calling witnesses later Wednesday. Prosecutors have not disclosed who they will call first.
On Tuesday night, prosecutors and defense attorneys debated toward the end of the process whether it was inappropriate for the government to keep some black people off jurors. was cornered. Kelly is black.
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Judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys identified about half of her 12 impeached jurors as black.
Some of the jurors selected reviewed at least a portion of her six-part documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly, on sexual abuse allegations against the Grammy-winning singer. I have seen it. As long as would-be jurors could assure U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber that they were still impartial, seeing it didn't automatically disqualify them.
One of her central focal points in the trial was that Kelly was about 30 and had sex on video when she was under 14. Whether the alleged girl was threatened and retaliated against. This is a claim that supports another of her accusations against Kelly, obstruction of justice conspiracy.
A jury in a 2008 child pornography trial acquitted Kelly. Some jurors then explained that they felt they had no choice because the girl did not testify. , would be a key government witness.Prosecutors said they would name her in court under the single pseudonym "Jane." He has already been sentenced to 30 years in prison by a New York federal judge, convicted in 2021, of sexually abusing another young fan.
Rising out of poverty to become a star singer, songwriter and producer on Chicago's South Side, Kelly qualifies for early release under a New York sentence. I will be about 80 years old before. he is complaining about it.
Kelly faces four lawsuits against her for inducement to have sex with a minor. They are also expected to testify.
Two of Kelly's colleagues, Derell McDavid and Milton Brown, are co-defendants in the Chicago trial. McDavid was accused of helping Kelly fix a 2008 trial, and Brown was charged with receiving child pornography.Like Kelly, they also deny any wrongdoing.
Minor 1 is expected to testify that she was seen on video having sex with Kelly. The recording was central to her month-long trial in 2008 and was played almost daily for the jury. Prosecutors say Kelly threatened her Minor 1 and her parents not to testify in her 2008 and asked for her payment.
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