R. Kelly Jury to Hear Opening Statements at Chicago Trial

CHICAGO—Opening statements scheduled for Wednesday give prosecutors and R. Kelly’s attorneys their first chance to address the jury directly on charges accusing the R&B singer of enticing minors for sex, producing child pornography and rigged his 2008 porn trial.

Both the prosecution and Kelly’s legal team told the judge earlier in the week that they would like about an hour each to brief the jury on the kind of evidence they can expect to see and hear. The evidentiary phase of the federal trial is expected to last about a month.

Attorneys for two of Kelly’s co-defendants will also address the jury before the government begins calling witnesses later Wednesday. Prosecutors have not said who they will call first.

The jury met Tuesday night with prosecutors and defense attorneys discussing late in the proceedings whether the government was improperly trying to keep some Black people off the jury.

Kelly, who is African-American, is accused of enticing minors for sex, producing child pornography and arranging his 2008 state child pornography trial in which he was acquitted.

As the parties began to exercise peremptory challenges, in which they can remove a fixed number of potential jurors from the pool, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of trying to remove Black people from the jury “to deny her Mr. Kelly a jury of his peers. ”

Prosecutors noted that several African-Americans had already made it to the jury before the defense objected, and argued that their reasons for wanting to target some had nothing to do with race. In one case, they said an older man seemed to have difficulty staying awake.

Judge Harry Leinenweber partially agreed with the defense, barring prosecutors from removing three black people from the jury and reinstating them. About half of the 12 jurors were identified as black by the judge, prosecutor and defense attorneys. Six alternates were also selected.

Some of the selected jurors had seen at least part of a six-part documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly,” about sexual abuse allegations against the Grammy Award-winning singer. Seeing it was not an automatic disqualification as long as a potential juror could assure Leinenweber that they could still be impartial.

Among the 12 selected jurors was a retired real estate agent who had a son who was a prosecutor and another son who was a defense attorney. Another member of the jury was a librarian.

Among those fired were a woman who said she had an unfavorable opinion of police and judges and a man who said he didn’t think the IRS should exist.

A central focus of the trial will be whether Kelly threatened and paid off a girl he allegedly recorded having sex with when he was in his 30s and she was no more than 14. That is the allegation that underpins another of the charges against Kelly, conspiracy. . to obstruct justice.

Jurors in the 2008 child pornography trial acquitted Kelly, with some later explaining that they felt they had no choice because the girl did not testify. The woman, now in her 30s and referred to in court documents only as “Minor 1,” will be the government’s star witness.

When she testifies, prosecutors explained in court Monday that they will not use her real name and will not refer to her as Minor 1. Instead, they will call her by a single pseudonym, “Jane.”

Kelly, 55, has already been sentenced by a New York federal judge to 30 years in prison for a 2021 conviction on charges that he used his fame to sexually abuse other young fans.

Kelly, who rose from poverty on Chicago’s South Side to become a star singer, songwriter and producer, will be in his 80s before qualifying for early release based on his sentence in New York, which he is appealing.

Kelly faces four counts of enticing minors to have sex, one for each of the other four accusers. They are also expected to testify.

Two of Kelly’s associates, Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown, are co-defendants in the Chicago trial. McDavid is accused of helping Kelly fix the 2008 trial, while Brown is accused of receiving child pornography. Like Kelly, they have also denied any wrongdoing.

Minor 1 is expected to testify that she was on video having sex with Kelly. The recording was at the center of the 2008 trial, which lasted a month, and was heard by jurors almost every day. Prosecutors say Kelly threatened and tried to pay Minor 1 and her parents not to testify in 2008. Neither of them did.

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