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R. KELLY NOT GUILTY VERDICT ACQUITTED ON ALL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SEXTAPE TRIAL VIDEO

The R.Kelly trial verdict is in and soul singer Robert Kelly has been acquitted of child pornography charges. There were some tough times for R.Kelly during the trial including when jurors had to watch the entire sextape video in the courtroom. His former protege Sparkle testified and identified R.Kelly as the man in the infamous sextape video.

 

R. Kelly Trial Court Coverage

R. Kelly Court Coverage

A Cook County jury on Friday acquitted R&B superstar R. Kelly of child pornography charges, marking the end of a high-profile trial rich in courtroom drama and celebrity intrigue.

The 41-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, long denied charges that he videotaped himself engaging in a variety of sex acts with his then-underage goddaughter.

Authorities said the female in the video could have been as young as 13 at the time. The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for 7 ½ hours before finding Kelly not guilty on all 14 counts. "R Kelly was found not guilty because they had the best jury that Cook County could produce," said Kelly's attorney Sam Adam Jr. "Two things happened today. R. Kelly got his name back and [his goddaughter] never had to lose hers," Adam said.

Prosecutors struck a somber note about a case that's lasted more than six years, using their statements to thank witnesses, profess faith in their case and acknowledge they had an uphill fight to prove it.

"As we must, we accept the verdict of the jury in this case," said Cook County State's Atty Richard Devine. "This prosecution is one we have no reservations about."

Child pornography prosecutions can be extremely difficult in many ways--one of them being that victims often don't come forward themselves, Devine said.

Even so, he said, charges "have to be brought."

Shauna Boliker, the lead prosecutor in the case, reserved her comments to thanking witnesses who came forward. "It was a difficult thing for them to do, but they did it very eloquently and courageously," she said.

In the moments before the verdict was announced, Kelly could be seen praying in the courtroom. As the verdicts rolled in, each count not guilty, Adam said he heard Kelly saying, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus."

On the courthouse steps outside, Ieshi Agee, 25, stood with her three young boys to await the verdict. They cheered as Kelly walked out.

"I knew he wasn't guilty!" Agee screamed.

Kelly left the courtroom surrounded by his entourage, who kept reporters away from the singer and escorted him to a waiting sport-utility vehicle as some 50 supporters shouted support to him. source

SPARKLE TESTIFIES AT R. KELLY CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TRIAL

R.Kelly's former backup singer Sparkle testified on Thursday in his child pornography trial. She positively identified the R&B singer as the man performing lewd acts with a minor on the sex tape. Sparkle also testified that she introduced her relative to the singer when she was 12 or 13 years old. Watch Sparkle sing the song "Be Careful" with her former mentor R.Kelly.

Right after the lunch break in the R. Kelly trial, the dessert came in the form of testimony from R&B singer and former Kelly protege Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards. If the Grammys had a category for courtroom testimony, she might win Best Witness.

Edwards, best known for the 1998 duet "Be Careful" with Kelly, testified Thursday that she herself should have been a little more careful when she introduced the alleged victim--a relative--to the singer.

For more than an hour and half, Edwards testified about how her friendship and profitable professional relationship with Kelly was undermined by betrayal.

It all began in 2001 with a phone call, she said.

On the other end of the line was a lawyer who said he had a videotape of the alleged victim performing lewd acts with someone. The lawyer's assistant rushed the tape over to her apartment for a positive ID, she testified. He popped the tape in the VCR and asked her if it was her relative.

Edwards told him the female on the videotape was her relative.

Edwards testified that she first met Kelly in 1989 when he was working in the studio with Billy Ocean. She had been singing in her family's gospel music group and working at Allstate Insurance. She would later marry a member of Public Announcement, the group that backed Kelly in his early days. She sang background vocals on the late R&B singer Aaliyah's debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number."

You may recall that Kelly married Aaliyah when she was 15, a union that was reportedly annulled.

Edwards testified that she signed to Kelly's record label, Rockland Records, and began work in 1996 on her eponymous album. It was shortly after then, Edwards said, that she introduced the alleged victim, an aspiring rapper, to Kelly when the girl was 12 or 13. She testified that she took the girl to Kelly's studio and later to his home.

"He liked her spirit. She was a very jolly person at the time, very personable, a little tomboyish. She was my heart," Edwards said, her voice cracking as she talked about the once-close relationship she had with the girl. source

R. KELLY SEX TAPE PLAYED IN COURT AT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TRIAL

Yesterday was day two of the R. Kelly child pornography trial. There was some drama in the courtroom including a viewing of the "infamous weeing sex tape". The girl in the video is still insisting that she wasn't on the video. Click here to get an update on what happened in the court room.  Our friends at Allhiphop.com offered some entertaining commentary on  R. Kelly aka the "Pied Piper's" predicament that we decided to share.  Watch video of day one in the R. Kelly trial.  The female in the sex tape said she met the singer when she was 12 years old.source

Today marked the second day of the oft-delayed R. Kelly trial. After the dismissal of a juror yesterday, the drama just keeps on coming! Remember that I, Kiko Michaels, told you that this trial was going to be a straight up clown show!

Well it was only day two, and they are already showing porn in the courtroom. (Hey instead of “love in the club,” how about “porn in the courtroom”) Oh what I would have given to be a fly on that wall! Today they screened the infamous R. Kelly “I want to piss on you” video.

That must have been so interesting! Can you picture the jury just sitting there, then all of a sudden the lights dim and Bam! The Pied Piper of R&B is pissing on a toddler. Oh sorry, “allegedly”... Wouldn’t it have been cool if they scored the background and during the infamous pissing scene they played “It’s raining Men”? Also did they hand out popcorn before they showed the video? I always like to eat when I’m watching porn.

Ok…so after they finished watching the tape, the prosecution gave this whole speech about how R. Kelly took advantage of the trust children have in adults, and he commanded the young girl to perform disgusting sex acts blah blah blah. For those of you who need a translation, basically he said R is a perv.  Then the defense made their own remarks, and that’s when the real f**kery began. First, they said that the girl in the video was not the now 23-year old who was identified as the pissee. That’s confusing because if you were identified as being in the video, how can you then come back and say it wasn’t you? I’m sure Kelly Rowland would like to forget she was in Freddy vs. Jason, but that’s not how it works! source

R. KELLY CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TRIAL FIRST DAY OF TESTIMONY BEGINS

The first day of testimony ended in the R. Kelly child pornography trial. The trial is expected to continue for several weeks.  Court reconvenes on Wednesday. 

Jurors Watch Alleged R. Kelly Sex Tape

R. Kelly jury selection

The R. Kelly trial concluded its first day of testimony this afternoon with the defense showing nearly four dozen pictures of scars and birthmarks on the singer's body.

The photographs--which were taken by the Chicago Police Department after Kelly's 2002 arrest--are meant to underscore the defense team's assertion that the R&B superstar is not the man in the videotape.

When the tape was played in real time for the jury Tuesday, no marks were evident on the male participant's body.

Chicago police investigator Dan Everett testified he received the video from a Chicago Sun-Times music critic in February 2002. He acknowledged that he did not know where the video originally came from or how many times it had been copied before he took custody.

Upon viewing the tape, Everett said he recognized the female on the tape because he had interviewed her as part of another investigation in 2000. He said he then spoke with several of her friends and relatives to help identify the video participants, but he was not permitted to share details of those conversations with the jury.

During grand jury appearances in 2002, the alleged victim and her parents both denied she was the female in the tape, while several of her classmates and family members said otherwise.

Court resumes Wednesday. source

R. KELLY TRIAL JURY SELECTION ENDS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TRIAL TO BEGIN

Jury selection has ended in R Kelly's child pornography trial. The trial begins on Tuesday May 20th. Click here to read more about the trial.

On Thursday, R. Kelly rolled up to Chicago's Cook County Courthouse in a black SUV, just as he had for the previous several days — except he seemed to have more of a skip in his step. It was a noticeable change from the blank air he had been giving off all week during jury selection for his child pornography trial. Perhaps he was happy to see the small crowd of fans standing outside chanting "Free R. Kelly" and singing "I Believe I Can Fly" as he walked toward the building. Or it could be that the singer had a sense of what was about to happen: That all 12 jurors and four alternates would finally be chosen, thus ending the tedium of jury selection so that the trial could move forward next Tuesday.

So who wound up being selected for the jury? There are four African Americans: a man in his 40s who works as a chef; a self-described Christian in his 50s who knows of Barry Hankerson (the uncle of late singer Aaliyah who could potentially be called as a witness); a female teacher's aide in her late 20s or early 30s; and a middle-aged woman who is married to a pastor and resides in Olympia Fields, the same neighborhood Kelly lives in. The eight white jurors consist of a man in his 40s who previously served as a juror on a another case; a twentysomething female criminal-justice student; a compliance officer in his 30s; an executive and father of two; a man who says he's seen faded-out clips of the alleged video on the news but can judge the case fairly; a male recent college graduate who was once arrested for possession of marijuana and underage drinking; a 68-year-old Romanian-American who said he's "probably not the smartest guy but will do what is best and fair"; and a young female athletic trainer who admitted to having once been the victim of rape. (During her interview with Judge Vincent Gaughan and the attorneys, the athletic trainer indicated that sitting through the trial could be difficult, but that she would be able to put her own history aside and judge Kelly fairly.) The alternates consist of a white man in his 20s who has an uncle that was convicted of child pornography; a Hispanic man who is about 19 years old; and two black women, one of whom was previously a deputy sheriff in the same courthouse. source

R. KELLY CHILD PORNOGRAPHY TRIAL JURORS SELECTED

Jury selections are underway after 6 years as 8 jurors have been selected for the R. Kelly child pornography trial.  The 41 year-old R&B singer appeared at a courthouse to face child pornography charges filed after a videotape surfaced in 2002 allegedly showing him having sex with a girl as young as 13. Attorneys and a judge began questioning 150 potential jurors in Chicago on Monday. Click here to learn more about the trial.

Comedian Dave Chappelle performed a parody of R. Kelly on the Chappelle Show. Watch Dave Chappelle's remix R. Kelly Pee On You. 

So far 8 jurors (5 men, 3 women/split evenly with black & white members) were selected. The 5 jurors chosen today include a teacher's assistant, a married man in his 40s, a criminal justice student, an investment firm compliance officer and a man with prior jury experience. The 3 people which were selected on Monday were an executive with young children, a pastor's wife and a self-described Christian.

The 41-year-old Chicago R&B superstar is charged with 14 counts of child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with a girl as young as 13.   R. Kelly has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 15 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and would have to register as a sex offender if convicted.

The selection process is difficult because potential jurors may have previous knowledge of the allegations and may have formed an opinion about R. Kelly based on press coverage of the long-delayed trial.  In order to weed out those who may not be impartial, questions about race, money and pornography were asked.

Prosecutors will face quite a few challenges when the trial begins. The girl believed to be on the videotape, who is now 23, says it wasn't her a R. Kelly's lawyers haven't conceded it's Kelly in the video.

Court proceedings will pick-up where they left off on Wednesday.  The lawyers will select a total of 16 panelists-- 12 jurors and 4 alternates with the selection expected to take a week. (source)

R KELLY HAIRBRAIDER

Here's the new music video for R Kelly's song "Hairbraider". Remember when R Kelly released those funny looking promo pics with him sporting gold locks?

R KELLY PROMO PICS NEW SONG 'HAIR BRAIDER'

R Kelly released some new promo pics and we're not sure what is going on with his hair. He's now sporting cornrows and blond hair.  SMH...WTF? We're not really feeling R Kelly's new look with gold locks.  The platinum hair didn't work for Dru Hill singer Sisqo. Click here read about Sisqo bragging about his hair swag. Listen to R Kelly's new single Hairbraider.

We must note that it seems like everyone is using the vocoder machine after T-Pain has become successful from using it.

R. Kelly Makes It To Court, Avoids Arrest

An arrest warrant was issued for the Bump N' Grind star, 40, on Wednesday after he failed to arrive for a court date, relating to his ongoing child pornography case. However, the warrant was not put into effect immediately - the judge gave Kelly until 9am on Thursday to present himself before the court.

R. Kelly was determined to make amends for skipping his last court appearance.  So, he showed up with plenty of time to spare. Once in court, his lawyer blamed his earlier absence on snowy weather conditions in Utah, where he was touring, and the fact police pulled his tour bus over. But Judge Vincent Gaughan was not impressed with Kelly's excuses. He told the star, "I'm very disappointed. I'm telling you these are extraordinary matters to have this break given to yourself, and then nobody shows up except your attorneys." Kelly is due back in court on Friday Dec. 21st when Judge Gaughan will set a start date for his trial and determine whether to revoke his bail.

The R&B superstar is expected to stand trial on 14 child pornography charges next year. [SOURCE: WENN]

[UPDATE: JUDGE RULES R&B superstar R. KELLY will stand trial for his child pornography offences in May '08.  Gaughan also chose not to stop Kelly from continuing his tour of the U.S.,because of the "unintended consequences" of cancelling the shows, disappointing fans and inconveniencing venue workers.]

R. Kelly is currently on his Double Up Tour with Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday. Here are the updated tour dates. Click here to purchase tickets. Check out the R Kelly - Trapped in the Closet TV Spot

Related Links

MTV News : The R.Kelly Trial Reports.
Official R. Kelly Website
Official R. Kelly Myspace
R. Kelly TV YouTube Channel
Keyshia Cole Official Website
J.Holiday Officlal Website
J Holiday Myspace