A federal jury was impeached Tuesday in R. Kelly's hometown of Chicago to decide multiple indictments against the R&B singer. rice field.
Kelly, who is black, was accused of soliciting minors for sex and He is accused of creating child pornography and amending a 2008 state child pornography trial that resulted in his acquittal.
When both sides launched compulsory dissent, which allowed them to exclude a certain number of potential jurors from the pool, Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said, "Kelly He is trying to attack black people to deny him being on his jury," prosecutors said. fellow.
The prosecutor noted that several African Americans had already joined the jury before the defense challenged, and they In one case, an elderly man appeared to be struggling to stay awake.
Judge Harry Leinenweber agreed in part with the defense, not allowing the prosecutor to remove the three blacks from the jury and putting them back. About half of his 12 jurors who were impeached were identified as black by judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Six alternates were also elected.
Some of the jurors selected reviewed the final part of her six-part documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly, on sexual abuse allegations against the Grammy-winning singer. I was watching As long as a would-be juror could assure Judge Reinenweber that he was fair, seeing it didn't automatically disqualify him.
Among his twelve jurors selected was a retired real estate agent with a son who is a prosecutor and another of his sons who is a defense attorney. Another juror was the librarian.
Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday morning, after which prosecutors will begin calling witnesses.
Altogether, the judge dismissed about half of the over 100 jury candidates he scrutinized over two days in his 25th-floor large courtroom in downtown Chicago.
Among those fired was a woman who said she looked unfavorably at police and judges, and a woman who said she had taken martial arts classes with Kelly's children. , one man said he didn't think the IRS should exist.
Leinenweber tended to dismiss even the slightest reservations expressed by the jury candidates. He dismissed one juror who said large gatherings would make him uneasy, and a U.S. postal worker worried mail would be delayed if she wasn't there. Dressed in a suit and wearing a surgical mask over his mouth and nose, Kelly followed the minutes from the defense table.
During the lunch break, several of Kelly's supporters seated in the bleachers on the court made heart signs with their hands and pointed them at Kelly. He seemed to notice across the court, smiled and nodded.
One of her central focal points in the trial was Kelly blackmailing a girl under the age of 14 who allegedly videotaped her having sex with her around the age of 30. , whether paid her money or not. Accusation against Kelly, conspiracy to obstruct her justice.
A jury in a 2008 child pornography trial acquitted Kelly, but later explained that some jurors felt they had no choice because the girl did not testify. The woman, now in her thirties and referred only to as "Minor 1" on court documents, will be the government's star witness in a federal trial expected to last four weeks.
She testified. At that time, prosecutors explained in court on Monday that they would not use her real name and would not refer to her as Minor 1. Instead, Kelly's attorney, who would call her by the single pseudonym "Jane," suggested that he could contest whether some of his accusers were minors at the time.[41][42] } Kelly, 55, has already been found guilty by acourt in New York. He was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Kelly, who rose out of poverty to become a star singer, songwriter and producer on Chicago's South Side, was about 80 years old before he was eligible for early release under a sentence imposed in New York. will be At a minimum, he faces 10 years in prison if he is found guilty of creating child pornography.
Kelly faces his four counts of temptation 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.
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.
Minor 1 first met Kelly in the late 1990s when Kelly was in junior high school, according to government documents submitted before the trial. claims to have tagged into Kelly's Chicago recording studio with her aunt, who is a professional singer with whom she works with. I told you to be
According to prosecutors, Kelly later threatened and asked for payment to keep Minor 1 and her parents from testifying in her 2008.
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