Chicago: Jury Hears Testimony at R. Kelly Trial

Opening statements scheduled for Wednesday give prosecutors and attorneys for R. Kelly the first opportunity to address the jury directly on charges against the R&B singer of enticing minors for sex, producing child pornography and arranging his 2008 trial for pornography.

Both the prosecution and Kelly’s legal team told the judge earlier this week that they would like an hour to brief the jury on the kind of evidence they can expect. 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 and discussed 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 set number of potential jurors from the pool, Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of trying to avoid having black people on 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 eliminate 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. Having seen it did not automatically disqualify them, as long as they could assure Leinenweber that they could still be impartial.

Among the 12 selected jurors is a retired real estate agent who has a son who is a prosecutor and another son who is a lawyer. Another member of the jury is a librarian.

Among those dismissed 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 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, association illegal 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 gives her plea, 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 the 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 the south side of Chicago to become a star singer, songwriter and producer, will be in his 80s before qualifying for early release, according to the sentence in New York, which he is appealing.

He faces four counts of enticing minors for sex, one for each of the other people who accuse him. 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, both have denied any wrongdoing.

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

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Michael Tarm is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mtarm