Jury gets R. Kelly child pornography and trial-fixing case, set to begin deliberating Tuesday
After weeks of lurid details via first-hand descriptions, video and audiotapes, the jury has received the child pornography and trial-fixing case against R&B star and convicted sex trafficker R. Kelly.
He is already appealing the Brooklyn Federal Court verdict from a year ago that put him behind bars for 30 years on charges of sexually abusing young fans. Kelly was convicted in September 2021 on nine racketeering counts for a sex-abuse scheme that went on for decades. Some of his victims were minors, and included boys.
The current trial is in Chicago, where he is accused of rigging his 2008 pornography trial in state court, leading to his acquittal. Besides obstruction of justice over that trial, he is also charged with production of child pornography and enticing minor girls for sex.
The jury was expected to begin deliberating later Tuesday.
The jury had viewed child sex tapes that federal prosecutors said showed the musician sexually assaulting a girl as young as 14. That girl is now 37, and last month, the alleged victim, testifying under the pseudonym Jane, said the now 55-year-old superstar had assaulted her “uncountable times” when she was aged 13 to 18. She had not testified at his previous trial.
In closing on Monday, prosecutor Elizabeth Pozolo told jurors that weeks of evidence proved that Kelly, whose given name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, had levied his fame to not only abuse minors sexually but also to record it on video.
“Robert Kelly abused many girls over many years,” Pozolo said. “He committed horrible crimes against children.… All these years later, the hidden side of Robert Kelly has come out.”
The defense had implied that the witnesses against Kelly were not credible, with attorney Jennifer Bonjean pointing out that many of the government’s key witnesses, including some of the alleged victims, had testified with immunity to avoid being charged themselves with previously lying to authorities. “Jane” had initially denied that she was the girl in the videos, but the prosecution said it’s because she was threatened.
“They came in here to tell the government’s version of the truth,” Bonjean said.
She also called for a mistrial twice based on closing arguments from attorneys for Kelly’s two co-defendants, his former business manager Derrell McDavid, and Milton Brown, a former associate of Kelly’s who is also accused of receiving child pornography.
“The presumption of innocence has been abolished for him,” Bonjean said, indicating that her client was not getting a fair trial because the testimony of the other two men was based on the assumption that Kelly is a proven sex predator.
With News Wire Services
