Jury acquits R. Kelly of all counts
CHICAGO (AP) -June 13, 2008 Kelly dabbed his face with a handkerchief and hugged each of his
four attorneys after the verdict - not guilty on all 14 counts -
was read. The Grammy award-winning singer had faced 15 years in
prison if convicted.
Minutes later, surrounded by bodyguards, he left the courthouse
without comment. Dozens of fans screamed and cheered as he climbed
into a waiting SUV.
"All I heard (from Kelly) while those 14 verdicts were being
read was 'Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus,"'
said Sam Adam Jr., one of his attorneys.
Prosecutors had argued that a video tape mailed to the Chicago
Sun-Times in 2002 showed Kelly engaged in graphic sex acts with a
girl as young as 13 at the time. Both Kelly, 41, and the now
23-year-old alleged victim had denied they were the ones on the
tape. Neither testified during the trial.
"Robert said all along that he believed in our system and he
believed in God - and that when all the facts came out in court, he
would be cleared of these terrible charges," according to a
statement from his publicist, Allen Mayer. "But he never dreamed
it would take six and a half years. This has been a terrible ordeal
for him and his family and at this point all he wants to do is move
forward and put it behind him."
Jurors said that fact that neither the alleged victim nor her
parents testified weakened the prosecution. But the real key was
the woman herself: One juror said he just was not sure the female
was who prosecutors said she was - or that she was a minor when the
tape was made.
Another said that while he was convinced it was Kelly on the
tape, he had doubts about the female. "What we had wasn't
enough," said the juror, who declined to give his name.
Prosecutors relied in part on a star witness who said she
engaged in three-way sex with Kelly and the girl. Defense attorneys
labeled that woman an extortionist, claiming she sought hundreds of
thousands of dollars from Kelly in exchange for her silence and
stole his $20,000 watch at one point.
Testimony in the monthlong trial centered on whether Kelly was
the man who appears on a sexually graphic, 27-minute videotape at
the heart of the case, and whether a female who also appears on it
was underage.
Over seven days presenting their case, prosecutors called 22
witnesses, including several childhood friends of the alleged
victim and four of her relatives who identified her as the female
on the video.
In just two days, Kelly's lawyers called 12 witnesses. They
included three relatives of the alleged victim who testified they
did not recognize her as the female on the tape.
Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Shauna Boliker said she
believed the female on the tape was a victim, not a prostitute as
the defense had contended.
"This shows the world how difficult this crime is to
prosecute," she said. "It also takes the soul of the victim, the
heart of the victim."
Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for "I Believe I Can Fly," and is
known for such raunchy hits as "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition," and
for "Trapped in the Closet," a multipart saga about the sexual
secrets of an ever-expanding cast of characters.
Of the 12 jurors, nine were men and three were women; eight were
white and four were black. They included the wife of a Baptist
preacher from Kelly's Chicago-area hometown, Olympia Fields, as
well as a compliance officer for a Chicago investment firm and a
man in his 60s who emigrated from then-Communist Romania nearly 40
years ago.
Despite his legal troubles, Kelly - who rose from poverty on
Chicago's South Side to become a star singer, songwriter and
producer - still retains a huge following, and his popularity has
arguably grown in recent years.
The singer has released more than half a dozen albums, most of
them selling over a million copies. He's also had a multitude of
hits and gone on tours. Kelly has a new song, "Hair Braider," out
now, and is due to release a new album in July.
Kelly, always meticulously dressed in a suit and tie, appeared
tense at times during the trial, furrowing his brow. He seemed
particularly ill at ease when prosecutors played the sex tape in
open court after opening arguments.
In the video, entered into evidence as "People's Exhibit No.
1," a man has sex with a young female, who is naked for most of
the recording. She is often blank-faced. The man speaks to her in a
hushed voice, and she calls him "Daddy."
In one scene, alluded to in one count of the indictment, the man
urinates on the female.
The issue of whether there was or wasn't a fingernail-sized mole
on the man's lower was a subject of hours of testimony. A defense
witness told jurors there was no mole on his back, proving it's not
Kelly, who has such a mole. But a prosecution witness displayed
freeze frames of the video where a dark spot seemed to appear as
the man turns to take off his pants.
Jurors later said the issue of whether Kelly had a mole was not
a decisive factor.
One surreal moment came when a defense expert played a segment
of the tape he doctored showing two headless bodies engaging in
sex. The defense said that backed their argument that Kelly's
likeness could have been computer-generated.
Cross examination was often heated. Several witnesses cried on
the stand.
The star prosecution witness, Lisa Van Allen, became teary eyed
as she told jurors she engaged in several three-way sexual
encounters with Kelly and the alleged victim, including once on a
basketball court. Kelly videotaped the trysts, she said.
Van Allen also claimed Kelly used to carry a duffel bag stuffed
full of his homemade sex tapes.
The defense called several witnesses in a bid to discredit Van
Allen, accusing her of trying to extort money from Kelly. Under
cross-examination, Van Allen admitted she once stole Kelly's
$20,000 diamond-studded watch from a hotel.
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Associated Press writers Mike Robinson and Maria Danilova
contributed to this report.