Jurors began deliberating Tuesday at R. KellyB次元官网网址檚 federal trial in Chicago, sorting through a month of evidence and arguments to weigh charges accusing the singer of producing child pornography, enticing minors for sex and successfully rigging his 2008 child porn trial.
A day after prosecutors delivered their closing argument, KellyB次元官网网址檚 lead attorney made hers. Standing at a podium a few feet in front of jurors, Jennifer Bonjean said key government witnesses were admitted liars who testified with immunity to ensure they couldnB次元官网网址檛 be charged.
At times sounding indignant and raising her voice, Bonjean likened their to a cockroach and the governmentB次元官网网址檚 case to a bowl of soup.
B次元官网网址淵ou donB次元官网网址檛 just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup,B次元官网网址� said told jurors. She said of the prosecutionB次元官网网址檚 case: B次元官网网址淭here are just too many cockroaches.B次元官网网址�
As Bonjean spoke, Kelly, wearing a gray suit and black mask, looked calm at a nearby defense table. He appeared to shake his head slightly a few times while a prosecutor spoke.
Kelly, 55, was sentenced trial in New York where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. Convictions on just a few of the 13 counts Kelly faces at his current trial could add years to his imprisonment.
Delivering the governmentB次元官网网址檚 rebuttal after BonjeanB次元官网网址檚 closing, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng told jurors to remember the girls and women Kelly allegedly abused.
B次元官网网址淲hen you are in the quiet of the jury room, consider the evidence in light of who is at the center of this case. KellyB次元官网网址檚 victims: Jane, and Brittany,B次元官网网址� Appenteng said, referring to five Kelly accusers named in charging documents by their psydonyms or first names.
Four of them testified. Brittany did not.
The prosecutor also pointed to testimony that as KellyB次元官网网址檚 fame boomed in the mid-1990s, his staff and associates increasingly geared everything they did to what Kelly wanted.
B次元官网网址淎nd ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls,B次元官网网址� Appenteng said.
Earlier, Bonjean implored jurors not to withdraw to the jury room with an impression of Kelly informed by media coverage of him in recent years or by prosecutors at the trial.
B次元官网网址淭hey throw around labels like sex predator,B次元官网网址� she said about prosecutors. B次元官网网址淟abels and sweeping generalizations are distractions meant for you to lose your humanity for this man.B次元官网网址�
She described Kelly as a flawed genius who has had only B次元官网网址渇unctional illiteracyB次元官网网址� since childhood and was ill-equipped to navigate his celebrity and fortune. She said having been abused as a child also deeply affected him.
Bonjean said some witnesses who testified with immunity hadnB次元官网网址檛 come to the courthouse in Chicago, KellyB次元官网网址檚 hometown, to tell the unvarnished truth.
B次元官网网址淭hey came in here to tell the governmentB次元官网网址檚 version of the truth,B次元官网网址� she said.
Among others, Bonjean cited Kelly ex-girlfriend Lisa Van Allen, who testified about how she stole a sex tape from a Kelly gym bag in the early 2000s. She also pointed to former Kelly merchandizing agent Charles Freeman, who testified that he asked Kelly for $1 million in exchange for returning another, potentially incriminating, video. Both testified with immunity.
During her closing Monday, prosecutor Elizabeth Pozolo told jurors that weeks of evidence proved parlayed his fame to sexually abuse minors and record the abuse on video. She .
B次元官网网址淩obert Kelly abused many girls over many years,B次元官网网址� Pozolo said, referring to the Grammy winner by his full name. B次元官网网址淗e committed horrible crimes against children. B次元官网网址� All these years later, the hidden side of Robert Kelly has come out.B次元官网网址�
Bonjean twice called for a mistrial Monday, complaining that closing arguments by attorneys for Kelly co-defendants Derrell McDavid and Milton Brown were grounded in the presumption that B次元官网网址渢he world now knows Mr. Kelly is a sex predator.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淭he presumption of innocence has been abolished for him,B次元官网网址� she said. Judge Harry Leinenweber denied the requests.
Known for his smash hit B次元官网网址淚 Believe I Can FlyB次元官网网址� and for sex-infused songs such as B次元官网网址淏ump nB次元官网网址� Grind,B次元官网网址� Kelly sold millions of albums even after allegations of sexual misconduct began circulating in the 1990s. Widespread outrage emerged after the #MeToo reckoning and the
Kelly and McDavid, the singerB次元官网网址檚 former business manager, are accused of fixing KellyB次元官网网址檚 2008 trial on state child porn charges .
Kelly faces 13 counts, including four counts of producing child porn, one count of conspiring to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, one count of conspiring to receive child porn, two counts of actually receiving it and five counts of enticing minors for sex.
McDavid is charged with four counts, including two counts of receiving child porn, one of conspiring to do so and one count of conspiring to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial.
Brown faces a single count of conspiring to receive child porn.
Pozolo focused much of her closing argument on the governmentB次元官网网址檚 star witness, an accuser who went by B次元官网网址淛aneB次元官网网址� and who said Kelly sexually abused her hundreds of times starting when she was 14.
B次元官网网址淗e performed degrading acts upon her for his own sick pleasure,B次元官网网址� Pozolo said.
She reminded jurors of graphic video footage they had watched, which Jane testified depicted Kelly, at around age 30, abusing her when she was 14. The videos shown included trial. Jurors said later they had no choice but to acquit Kelly because Jane didnB次元官网网址檛 testify.
B次元官网网址淲ho uses a 14-year-old child to film a video like this?B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭his man. Robert Kelly.B次元官网网址�
Before the 2008 trial, Pozolo said, Kelly and his associates scrambled to recover multiple sex videos that had gone missing from a collection he often carried around in a large gym bag.
By doing so, she said, Kelly associates sought B次元官网网址渢o cover up the fact that B次元官网网址� R. Kelly, the R&B superstar, is actually a sexual predator.B次元官网网址�
In his closing, an attorney for McDavid said prosecutors had to show that his client actually knew about any abuse of Jane by Kelly in the 2000s B次元官网网址� not just that it was likely he knew.
B次元官网网址淒id they prove he knew B次元官网网址� behind a reasonable doubt?B次元官网网址� Beau Brindley asked. B次元官网网址淭hey did not.B次元官网网址�
Pozolo balked at the idea that McDavid had no inkling in the 2000s that the abuse allegations might be credible after helping to recover missing recordings and handing bags of cash to people who returned videos McDavid knew could destroy Kelly.
B次元官网网址擬ichael Tarm, The Associated Press
